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Ladd,  George  Trumbull,  1842' 

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The  principles  of  church 

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Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Archive 

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http://www.archive.org/details/principlesofchurOOIadd 


THE    PEIi^CIPLES 


CHURCH    POLITY 

ILLUSTRATED    BY 

AN  ANALYSIS  OF   MODERN   CONGREGATIONALISM  AND 

APPLIED   TO   CERTAIN   IMPORTANT   PRACTICAL 

QUESTIONS   IN  THE   GOVERNIMENT  OP 

CHRISTIAN  CHURCHES 


SOUTHWORTH   LECTURES 

DELIVERED  AT  ANDOVER  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY  m 
THE  YEARS   1879-18S1 


BY 


GEORGE    T.    LADD 

PROFESSOB  OP  MENTAL  AND  MORAL  PHILOSOPHY  IN 
TALE   COLLEGE 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

743  ANB  745  Broadway 

1882 


COPTRIGHT,  BY 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'3  SONS, 
1832. 


JTranhlin  i3rcss: 

BAND,    AVERY,   AND    COMPANY, 
BOSTON. 


^. 


RtC.  OCT  \bti2 

\tksologiga 


TO 

THE  MEMORY  OF  HIS   FATHER 

WHO   WAS  FOR   AX    ENTIRE   GENERATION 

A  MEMBER  AND  OFFICER  OF  A  CHURCH   OF  CHRIST 

AND  ^\^I0  DIED  BELOVED  AND  LAMENTED 

THIS  BOOK  IS  INSCRIBED 

BY  THE  AUTHOR 


PREFACE. 


If  an  apology  is  to  be  made  for  the  appearance  of  these 
Lectures  in  the  form  of  a  book,  it  is  best  that  this  apology 
should  express  frankly  the  motives  for  such  appearance 
which  lie  in  the  author's  mind.  It  seemed  to  him  in  some 
sense  due  to  the  Lectureship  which  he  has  filled  for  three 
years,  that  it  should  add  something  to  the  general  literature 
of  its  theme.  Lectures  written  on  paper,  whatever  they 
may  accomplish  as  lectures,  perish  with  the  using ;  but  the 
printed  volume,  whether  it  have  many  readers  or  few,  at 
least  for  a  time  remains. 

Moreover,  the  reading  done  in  preparation  for  this  writing 
has  convinced  the  author  that  his  treatment  of  the  subject 
has  some  small  claim  to  a  certain  originality  and  freshness  of 
form.  This  impression  has  been  confirmed  by  the  testimony 
of  a  few  friends,  among  whom,  however,  may  be  counted  one 
who  was  not  long  since  a  master  of  the  whole  subject  here 
treated  in  such  a  fragmentary  way. 

That  there  is  now  great  need  of  candid  and  reasonable 
discussion  of  all  those  principles  which  enter  into  the  consti- 
tution and  government  of  Christian  churches,  few  will  doubt. 
It  is  certain  that  such  need  is  manifested  among  those  leaders 
and  churches  which  bear  the  Congregational  name ;  nor  is 
this  need  confined  to  them  alone.  Not  a  few  of  the  elder 
men  in  the  ministry,  of  all  denominations,  seem  to  be  losing 

V 


vi  PREFACE. 

heart  at  sight  of  the  rapid  changes  of  form  which  are  going 
on  in  the  doctrine,  discipline,  and  worship  of  the  Christian 
churclies.  And,  of  the  younger  men,  the  great  majority  are 
either  indifferent  to  questions  of  church  polity,  except  as 
these  questions  affect  their  own  temporary  success,  or  else 
are  quite  confused  in  thought,  and  vacillating  in  action, 
through  lack  of  attention  to  the  principles  involved.  If  the 
author  shall  have  any  success  whatever  in  his  endeavor,  it 
will  be  in  helpiug  those  who  belong  to  the  latter  class.  In 
church  polity,  as  in  other  matters  of  human  thought  and 
action,  he  who  has  a  firm  grasp  upon  principles  need  seldom 
go  far  or  remain  long  astray ;  but  he  who,  without  this 
grasp  upon  principles,  makes  himself  officious  in  the  effort  to 
mend  the  rents  and  seams  in  the  "cake  of  custom,"  will 
probably  end  by  either  daubing  over  its  surface,  or  parting  it 
quite  in  two. 

That  some  others  besides  the  several  score  of  students  to 
whom  he  has  already  had  the  pleasure  of  imparting  his 
thoughts  may  be  equallj'  interested  in  the  principles  of  the 
true  church  polity,  and  in  the  practical  handling  of  churches 
as  accomplished  in  accordance  with  these  principles,  is  the 
utmost  that  the  author  can  hope. 

It  is  a  sad  pleasure  to  him  to  know  that  the  reading,  and 
kindly,  helpful  criticism  of  his  manuscript,  was  among  the 
last  things  done  by  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon  ;  that  almost  the  last 
words  heard  by  the  author  from  this  great  and  good  man 
were  words  of  interest  and  encouragement  for  the  views  here- 
in expressed.  This  acknowledgment,  which  it  was  hoped  to 
make  to  the  living,  must  now  be  made  in  memory  of  the 
departed. 

New  Haven,  Conn.,  January,  1882. 


SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTION. 

PAGE. 

The  importance  of  a  right  doctrine  of  the  Organization  and  Gov- 
ernment of  Christian  churches  is  great.  Tliis  importance  is 
shown  by  tlie  close  relations  between  ecclesiastical  and  civil 
forms  of  government,  and  by  the  interior  relations  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  Church  Polity  to  the  system  of  Christian  Truth  .        .    1-6 

The  ideal  construction  and  government  of  the  churches  may  be 
derived  from  certain  fundamental  principles  of  the  Christian 
religion.  Especially  are  they  to  be  derived  from  the  true  doc- 
trine of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  of  Sacred  Scripture  ....    6-8 

It  is  true  in  some  sense  that  the  ideal  Church  Polity  may  claim 
a  divine  right  to  existence  and  to  supremacy;  yet  the  ques- 
tions may  be  raised,  (1)  Have  not  all  systems  of  Church  Order 
exemplified  to  some  extent  the  principles  of  a  true  church 
polity  ?  (2)  May  not  different  systems  in  the  various  times  and 
circumstances  of  history  equally  well  embody  the  true  ideal? 
(3)  How  far  can  questions  of  church  polity  be  treated  as  ques- 
tions of  expediency  ? 9-18 

The  principles  of  a  true  church  polity  must,  however,  submit  them- 
selves to  the  test  of  exjierience  and  fact         .        .        .        .         18,  19 

The  mismanagements  of  modern  Congregationalism  in  this  country 
have  chiefly  concerned  two  important  factors  in  its  system  of 
instituting  and  governing  churches.  Of  these  two,  one  has 
been  its  method  of  self-propagation,  which  has  been  lacking  in 
a  definite  and  principled  polity  for  the  new  churches:  the  other 
has  been  the  failure  to  give  to  the  local  churches  the  ofiicers 
which  both  the  New  Testament  and  reason  require     .        .         19-23 

The  officers  of  a  Congregational  church  are  properly  of  two  classes, 
the  deacon,  and  the  elder  or  presbyter-bishop.  Each  church 
should  have  a  board,  or  bodj^  of  elders;  but  Congregational 
churches  have  reduced  this  board  to  one  member,  and,  by  neg- 
lecting ordination  of  the  jiastor,  are  fast  rendering  extinct  the 

office  of  the  genuine  presbyter-bishop 23-26 

vii 


VIU  SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS. 

FAOB. 

To  furnish  themselves  with  oflScers  is,  therefore,  the  most  impor- 
tant advice  in  respect  to  church  polity  which  can  be  given  to 
our  churches.  To  a  body  of  elders  in  each  local  church  there 
are  no  valid  objections;  but  many  advantages  might  be  ex- 
pected from  a  revival  of  the  New-Testament  custom  of  an 
ordained  collective  eldership 26-29 

LECTURE  I. 

THE    PRINCIPLES    OF   CONGREGATIONALISM. 

The  Method  of  Inquiry  must  be  philosophical,  as  inquiring  into 
causes,  and  historico-genetic,  as  tracing  the  growth  of  an  im- 
portant movement  in  history.  The  need  of  this  method  is  made 
obvious  by  the  facts  that  so  many  are  xierplexcd  by  the  ques- 
tion, What  is  Congregationalism  ?  and  that  so  few  know  what 
changes  in  forms  and  methods  are  compatible  with  its  un- 
changing principles 30-35 

The  Plan  of  the  Inquiry  will  lead  us,  first  to  analyze  the  true 
church  polity  as  illustrated  in  modern  Congregationalism,  and 
then  to  apply  these  principles  to  certain  important  practical 
questions.  The  application  will  be  made  in  three  main  divis- 
ions: (1)  To  our  common  manhood;  (2)  To  our  common  faith; 
(3)  To  the  growth  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  Earth    ...      36 

Two  primary  principles  of  the  true  Cliurch  Polity  are  to  be  distin- 
guished, the  formal  and  the  material 37 

The  Formal  Principle  of  Congregationalism  has  been  duly  recog- 
nized, as  may  be  proyed  by  quotations  from  v^arious  authors, 
and  by  citation  of  supporting  facts 37-43 

The  Material  Principle  of  Congregationalism  implies  a  certain  doc- 
trine of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and,  by  its  union  with  the  formal  prin- 
ciple, it  shapes  all  the  development  of  the  ideal  church  polity 
according  to  seven  secondary  or  derived  principles     .        .         44-46 

There  are  seven  secondary  or  derived  principles:  these  are,  — 

1.  The  princiiile  of  Christ's  exclusive  rulership        ...         47,  48 

2.  The  principle  of  individual  equality  and  self-control .        .         48-50 

3.  The  principle  of  a  regenerate  membership    ....         50-52 

4.  The  principle  of  the  autonomy  of  the  local  church     .        .        52,  53 

5.  The  principle  of  the  communion  of  churches        .        .        .         53-55 

6.  The  principle  of    conserving  the  results  of  common  experi- 

ence                  55-57 

7.  The  principle  of  progress  through  individual  inquiry         .         57-59 
The  relations  in  which  these  seven  principles  stand  to  each  other 

are  such  as  to  constitute  a  due  balance  of  influences  and  forces 
in  church  polity.  This  fact  makes  Congregationalism  the  true 
"  Middle  Way;  "  but  the  failure  to  use  these  principles  in  due 
proportion  and  moderation  has  resulted  in  many  practical 
mishaps 59-63 


SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS.  ix 


LECTURE   11. 

THE   PRINCIPLES    OF    COXGREGATIONALISM   APPLIED   TO   MAN 

AS   A   RATIONAL   SOUL. 

PAGE. 

The  principles  of  a  true  church  polity  are  cosmopolitan:  they 
belong  to  man  as  a  redeemed  man.  The  relations  which  they 
sustain  to  our  common  nature  may  be  shown  by  their  applica- 
tion, (1)  To  man  as  a  rational  soul;  (2)  To  man  as  a  social 
being;  (:>)  To  man  as  a  citizen,  or  member  of  the  civil  state        64-66 

Every  System  of  Church  rolity  must  show  its  right  to  existence 
and  recognition  by  demonstrating  its  special  fitness,  in  some 
definite  place  and  time,  to  contribute  toward  the  perfection  of 
Christian  manhood 67-69 

I.  The  principles  of  a  true  Church  Polity  are  adapted  to  cultivate 

the  desire  and  actiuisition  of  the  true 69, 70 

The  Formal  Principle  is  a  continual  incitement  to  the  pursuit  and 
acquisition  of  truth.  Congregationalism  intrusts  the  exegesis 
of  the  Scriptures  to  the  community  of  believers  without  put- 
ting them  under  bonds  to  a  traditional  interpretation.  This 
polity  has,  therefore,  given  a  distinctive  impulse  both  to  bibli- 
cal and  to  systematic  theology 70-73 

The  Material  Principle  invites  men  to  search  and  prayer  for  truth 

as  the  gift  of  a  divine  self-revelation       .        .        .        .        .        73-75 

Each  of  the  secondary  principles  is  adapted  to  the  quickening  and 

growth  of  the  rational  powers  in  man 75 

The  inquiry.  Whether  these  principles  have  actually  accomplished 
that  to  which  they  are  adajited  leads  us  to  note  the  following 
facts  of  history.  Both  the  higher  and  the  common-school  edu- 
cation of  this  country  are  of  Congregational  origin:  the  theo- 
logical and  other  literature  of  the  country  has  largely  been 
fostered  by  Congregational  ministers 76-81 

II.  The  principles  of  a  true  Church  Polity  are  adapted  to  cultivate 
the  admiration  and  production  of  the  beautiful.  This  is  true 
especially  of  the  highest  forms  and  manifestations  of  beauty, 
since  they  are  the  presentation  and  embodiment  of  truth. 
That  beauty  which  is  distinctively  allied  with  ethical  truth 
certainly  owes  something  to  the  work  of  these  principles    .        81-85 

Fault  has  been  found  with  Puritan  Congregationalism  that  it  has 
not  given  due  scope  and  culture  to  the  imagination.  The  fault 
is  to  a  considerable  extent  just.  But  no  reason  exists  in  the 
principles  themselves  why  they  should  not  meet  all  the  consti- 
tutional and  genuine  wants  of  the  imagination.  Congregation- 
alism may  have  such  ritual  and  such  religious  feasts  as  are  best 
for  the  churches 85-89 

Two  things  in  our  customary  activities  especially  need  aesthetic 
improvement;  viz.,  Church  architecture  and  the  Service  of 
Song 89-91 


X  SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

III.  The  principles  of  a  true  Church  Polity  are  adapted  to  promote 
the  love  and  practice  of  the  morally  good.  This  comes  from 
their  power  to  quicken  the  conscience,  and  from  other  qualities 
subsequently  to  be  discussed  in  more  detail  ....       91-93 


LECTURE  m. 

THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   COXGREGATIONALISM   APPLIED   TO   MAN 
AS    A    SOCIAL   BEING. 

The  difference  which  exists  between  abstract  principles  and  those 
same  principles  as  rendered  concrete  in  history  is  to  be  consid- 
ered when  we  contrast  the  social  ideal  of  the  Church  with  the 
social  practices  of  Congregationalism 94-97 

The  principles  of  the  true  church  polity  are,  indeed,  adapted  to 
promote  the  social  well-being  of  man:  this  is  made  obvious  by 
considering  the  relations  which  these  principles  sustain  to  the 
elements  of  man's  social  nature 97, 98 

Even  those  principles  which  primarily  tend  toward  the  develojv- 
ment  of  the  individual  promote  the  highest  well-being  of  the 
community.  The  " sanctified  individualism"  which  the  ideal 
church  polity  cultivates  is  adapted  ultimately  to  increase  the 
social  communion  of  Christians,  and  their  social  influence  over 
the  world.  The  progress  of  the  Church  through  individual 
inquiry,  the  autonomy  of  the  local  church,  and  the  exclusive 
rule  of  Christ  in  his  Church,  are  all  principles  of  advantage  to 
social  development 98-104 

The  principle  of  the  commimion  of  churches,  and  the  principle  of 
a  regenerate  membership,  are  i>lainly  adapted  to  promote  the 
social  advantage  of  men 104-106 

When,  however,  we  compare  the  tendencies  of  these  principles 
with  the  historic  experience  of  modern  Congregationalism,  we 
are  made  aware  of  a  considerable  discrepancy.  The  Fathers 
did,  indeed,  insist  upon  the  true  social  idea  of  a  Christian 
church ;  but,  with  their  social  excellences,  they  had  also  many 
social  defects  in  Christian  customs  and  Christian  work.  Of 
these  defects  we  enumerate:  (1)  Defective  social  relations  with 
the  young;  (2)  Defective  social  relations  between  the  officers  of 
the  churches  and  their  members;  {•"•)  Defective  social  relations 
of  the  churches  toward  the  communitj'  at  large;  (4)  An  unsocial 
and  aristocratic  bearing  toward  the  so-calleil  lower  orders  of 
the  people;  (5)  A  lack  of  social  communion  amongst  Congrega- 
tional churches 106-119 

Summary  of  the  results  of  the  preceding  survey  .;»...    119 

Suggestions  for  the  improved  application  of  the  jirinciples  of  a 

true  Church  Polity  to  the  social  well-being  of  man        .        .    120-123 


SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS.  xi 


LECTURE  IV. 

THE   PRINCIPLES   OF   COXGREGATIONALISM   APPLIED   TO   MAN 
AS    A    CITIZEN. 

PAGE. 

The  fundamental  principle.^  of  a  true  Church  Polity  should  deter- 
mine the  relations  wliich  members  of  the  churches  sustain  to 
the  civil  government.  Yet  the  formal  principle  does  not  fur- 
nish rules  for  conduct  under  modern  forms  of  government, 
since  the  New  Testament  was  written  under  a  far  different 
state  of  civil  affairs 124-127 

Ix  early  Christianity  the  principle  of  non-resistance  to  civil  au- 
thority, and  a  certain  aloofness  from  governmental  affairs,  were 
wisely  inculcated.  But  even  the  New  Testament  contains  the 
germs  of  another  view  and  practice.  The  principle  of  Christ's 
exclusive  rulership,  and  the  principle  of  individual  equality 
and  self-control,  may  give  rise  to  the  most  determined  resist- 
ance to  civil  government:  they  may  also  contribute  to  widen 
the  activities  of  Christian  men  in  civil  affairs         .        .        .    127-132 

The  founders  of  modern  Congregationalism  at  first  tried  to  observe 

the  duty  of  a  simply  passive  resistance 132, 133 

That  thcj^  themselves  in  New  England  violated  the  principle 
they  had  advocated,  and  persecuted  others,  must  be  in  part 
admitted,  and  is  not  to  be  wholly  excused,  although  their  cir- 
cumstances greatly  mitigate  the  crime.  The  Platform  and 
the  Courts  are  consistent  neither  in  theory  nor  in  practice:  the 
violations  of  principle  were,  however,  due  to  mistaken  applica- 
tion of  principle 133-140 

The  Congregational  principle  of  individual  equality  and  self-con- 
trol in  church  affairs  has  been  the  most  important  factor  in  the 
modern  development  of  civil  and  religious  liberty        .        .    140-142 

Several  prime  elements  of  our  free  civil  government  are  largely 
of  Congregational  origin.  Among  these  elements  are:  (1)  The 
written  constitution;  (2)  The  town-meeting;  (:>)  Popular  suf- 
frage        142,143 

The  Congregational  ministers,  by  their  writings,  preaching,  and 
advice,  as  well  as  by  active  participation  in  the  conflict  of 
arms,  contributed  much  to  our  civil  independence        .        .     143-146 

Nor  have  the  principles  of  this  polity  been  wanting  in  influence 
upon  reforms  of  all  kinds;  in  these  the  adherents  of  such  iDrin- 
ciples  have  been  among  the  foremost 146-148 

Suggestions  as  to  the  proper  conduct  for  Congregational  pastors  in 

matters  of  civil  government  and  moral  reform      •        .        .    149-152 


XU  SYNOPSIS   OF    CONTENTS. 

LECTURE   V. 

THE    FORMAL   PRINCIPLE    OF    CONGREGATIONALISM. 

FAQE. 

The  Inquiry  into  the  adaptation  of  the  principles  of  a  true  Church 
Polity  to  conserve  and  perfect  in  piirity  the  Christian  Faith 
raises  many  difficult  and  debatable  questions        .        .        .    153-155 

These  principles  will  be  applied,  lioweA'er,  to  (1)  the  requirements 
for  membership  in  the  local  church,  (2)  the  purity  in  the  faith 
of  Congregational  ministers,  (3)  the  communion  of  Congrega- 
tional churches  in  matters  of  their  common  faith         .        .        .    156 

But,  in  the  present  Chapter,  certain  features  of  the  so-called  formal 

principle  are  to  be  discussed 15T 

For,  although  the  rudimentary  manifestations  of  this  principle  in 
its  fuller  import  are  earlier  met  with,  the  Protestant  churches 
in  Europe  never  gave  it  complete  recognition.  That  Congre- 
gationalism has  pre-eminently  recognized  this  principle  is  true, 
in  spite  of  the  charges  of  Eudelbach  and  Guerike,  and  in  spite 
also  of  the  fact  that  this  recognition  has  never  been  so  self- 
conscious  as  to  result  in  a  formulated  statement  of  belief    .    157-161 

The  essential  unity  of  Scripture  and  enlightened  Christian  reason 
is  maintained  by  various  authors.  We  cannot,  indeed,  make 
the  attempt  consistently  to  hold  both  the  formal  and  the  mate- 
rial principles  without  believing  in  the  unity  of  the  Word  of 
God  in  the  Scriptures,  and  the  same  Word  in  the  souls  of  be- 
lievers        lCl-166 

This  formal  principle  has  both  a  positive  and  a  negative  form.  The 
positive  form  affirms  that  the  Word  of  God  in  the  Scriptures  is 
our  sole  objective  authority  for  the  doctrine,  constitution,  and 
discipline  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  negative  form  of  the 
same  principle  denies  that  creeds,  symbols,  or  opinions  of 
learned  men  can  form  a  co-ordinate  authority      .        .        .     166, 167 

The  positive  form  of  this  principle  has  had  a  characterizing  in- 
fluence ui^on  the  doctrine  and  discipline  of  Congregational 
churches 167-169 

The  negative  form  of  the  same  principle  has  also  been  emphasized 
by  Congregationalists.  The  attitude  of  freedom  toward  creeds 
is  traditional  and  a  matter  of  principle  in  their  system  of  church 
order 169,  170 

John  Robinson's  reported  declaration,  that  "the  Lord  had  more 
light  and  truth  yet  to  break  forth  out  of  his  Holy  Word,"  is  not 
to  be  restricted  to  probable  improvements  in  polity.  Prince 
could  not  so  have  understood  these  words,  and  Pobinson  could 
not  so  have  uttered  them 170-174 

The  Scriptures,  as  interpreted  by  the  enlightened  Christian  con- 
sciousness, become  an  authority  in  a  sense  in  which  creeds 
cannot 175,  176 


SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS.  xiii 

PAGE. 

The  application  of  the  formal  principle  to  matters  of  church  order, 
to  the  constitution,  discipline,  and  worship  of  the  churches,  is 
distinctive  of  Congregationalism 177-179 

This  makes  adherence  to  Congregationalism  a  matter  of  principle, 
and  enahles  its  adherents  to  combine  a  certain  High-Church 
doctrine  of  their  church  order  with  great  catholicity  of 
spirit 17&-181 

An  illustration  of  the  main  truths  of  this  Chapter  may  be  taken 
from  a  recent  discussion;  viz.,  that  over  the  Vermont  Resolu- 
tions of  1878  and  1879 181-186 


LECTURE  VI. 

THE   PRINCIPLE   OF   A   REGENERATE   MEMBERSHIP. 

This  principle  is  pre-eminent  among  the  secondary  principles  of 
the  Congregational  system  of  church  order.  It  has  been  in  fact 
so  regarded,  and  is  made  so  by  its  necessary  relations  to  all  the 
other  princiiilcs.  He  who  is  controlled  by  his  allegiance  to 
Christ  is  fit  to  control  himself  in  the  church;  and  particular 
churches  made  up  of  regenerate  members  arc  alone  fit  for  self- 
control.  The  communion  of  chnrohes  has  a  real  meaning  only 
as  taking  place  amongst  regenerate  souls:  through  such  souls 
does  progress  come  to  the  churches 186-193 

The  application  of  the  principle  of  a  regenerate  membership  in- 
volves two  particulars:  (1)  None  but  those  who  give  credible 
evidence  of  being  true  believers  may  compose  the  membership 
of  a  Congi-egational  church;  (2)  Congregational  churches  must 
afford  the  privileges  of  Christian  communion  in  a  church  way 
by  offering  to  enter  into  a  covenant  with  all  who  do  give  such 
evidence 193 

The  New-Testament  churches  were  founded  upon  the  basis  of  a 
new  life  in  their  members.  Upon  the  same  basis  modern  Con- 
gregationalism endeavored  to  found  the  local  church.  This  is 
substantially  the  doctrine  of  the  Cambridge  Platform,  and  of 
John  Cotton ;  more  purely  yet  of  Hooker  and  Davenport  .      194-198 

A  DEPARTURE  from  this  principle  is,  however,  manifest  in  the 
synods  of  1657  and  l(i62:  this  departure  found  its  expression 
in  the  Half-way  Covenant 198,  199 

The  tests  of  Christian  experience  were  sometimes  meagre,  or  formal 

and  severe 199,  200 

Br  the  principle  of  a  regenerate  membership  churches  are  forbid- 
den to  provide  for  the  exclusion  of  those  whom  they  may  in 
charity  find  to  have  the  life  in  Christ.  By  this  principle  the 
use  of  subscription  to  creeds  as  a  requisite  of  membership  is 
also  limited 200-202 


XIV  SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGB. 

The  custom  of  early  Congregationalism  is  undoubted.  The  assent 
to  the  covenant  was  alone  required  for  admission  to  the  local 
church  ;  and  this  covenant  was  in  no  respect  an  articulated 
statement  of  doctrine 202-206 

MoREOVEK,  the  earlier  writers  consider  it  inadmissible  to  require 

assent  to  a  creed  as  a  condition  of  membership     .        .        .     206-210 

To  change  this  application  of  this  principle  is  something  which  no 
church  has  any  right  to  do;  for  the  requisites  for  membership 
in  the  body  of  his  believers  have  been  fixed  by  Christ         .     210,  211 

As  to  what  are  credible  evidences  of  true  discipleship,  experience 
must  teach.  The  type  of  religious  life  changes.  The  early 
Congregational  churches  did  not  escape  hypocrisy  and  formal- 
ism by  their  requirements.  There  was  some  temptation  to 
these  sins  in  the  so-called  "Relations,"  or  written  narrations 
and  declarations  of  experience 212-214 

Modern  customs  may  fitly  differ  from  the  ancient  in  the  examina- 
tion and  testing  of  candidates 215,  216 


LECTURE  Vn. 

THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    COXGREGATIOXALISM     APPLIED    TO     THE 
PURITY    OF    THE    MINISTRY. 

Other  means  than  merely  the  thorough  working  of  the  principle 
of  a  regenerate  membership  are  needed  to  secure  the  purity  of 
the  ministry 217-219 

The  chief  means  known  to  the  Congregational  polity  for  securing 
the  purity  of  the  ministrj-  are  three:  I.  The  trained  sense  of 
primary  responsibility  to  God  alone;  II.  The  sense  of  seconda- 
ry resiionsibility  on  the  part  of  the  pastors  to  the  congregations 
which  they  teach,  this  involving,  (1)  Right  Ordination  of  the 
pastor  at  the  hands  of  the  church,  and  (2)  Right  Watch  and  care 
of  the  doctrine  and  life  of  the  pastor  by  the  church;  III.  The 
sense  of  tertiary  responsibility  to  all  churches  of  Christ,  this 
involving,  (1)  The  due  acknowledgment  of  the  communion 
of  churches  in  the  Ordination  of  every  pastor,  and  (2)  The 
"Watch  and  care  of  every  minister  by  the  entire  sisterhood  of 
churches      ..." 219,  220 

I.  The  sense  of  responsibility  to  God  is  the  chief  means  for  con- 

serving the  purity  of  the  ministry:  hence  the  close  connection 
between  the  education  and  the  purity  of  the  ministry         .      220-223 

II.  The  Congregational  pastor,  as  the  leader  and  teacher  of  his 
congregation,  owes,  under  God,  his  chief  allegiance  to  them,    223-225 

III.  The  Congregational  minister  also  owes  a  certain  allegiance 
to  the  churches  in  the  communion  of  which  he  has  been  appro- 
bated to  preach  the  gospel 225.  226 


SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS.  XV 

PAGE. 

These  last  two  consi<lerations  especially  cover  two  epochs,  —  the 
epoch  when  each  minister  becomes  the  pastor  of  a  local  church, 
and  the  epoch  when  any  minister  becomes  notably  impure  in 
morals,  or  unsound  in  faith 226 

The  Congregational  doctrine  of  Ordination  is,  then,  an  important 

practical  truth 226 

Although  the  mutual  choice  is  the  essential  element  of  ordina- 
tion, yet  the  solemn  act  of  induction  into  ofiSce  by  prayer  and 
the  imposition  of  hands  accords  with  New-Testament  usage, 
and  is  necessarj'  to  a  decent  ordination 227,  228 

The  church  which  constitutes  its  own  pastor  by  its  choice  should 
initiate  this  act  of  induction  into  office,  and  d(!h^gate  it  to  per- 
sons of  its  own  choice.  The  fittest  persons  to  whom  to  delegate 
this  act  would  be  its  own  elders  already  in  office;  and,  where 
such  officers  do  not  exist,  a  church  has  an  inalienable  right  to 
resort  to  "  lay-ordination  " 228-232 

But  lay-ordination  is  now  obsolete,  and  the  Congregational 
churches  are  without  a  board  of  presbyter-bishops.  The  prac- 
tice of  ordination  may,  then,  be  modified  as  to  the  way  in  which 
it  includes  a  formal  acknowledgment  of  the  principle  of  the 
communion  of  churches 232-236 

The  examination  of  the  one  to  be  ordained,  as  conducted  by  the 
elders  of  other  churches,  is  not  an  early  or  permanent  element 
in  the  accompanying  ceremonies  of  ordination;  but  it  should, 
in  the  present  circumstances,  be  cordially  yielded.  It  should 
difler  from  the  examination  for  licensure,  should  concern 
the  fitness  of  the  candidate  for  this  particular  church,  and 
should  have  respect  to  essentials  of  doctrine  to  be  taught  to 
the  people,  rather  than  to  details  of  speculative  and  critical 
opinions 237-244 

Diverse  decisions  of  differing  ordaining  councils  do  not  vitiate  the 
principle  of  their  use;  but  the  conduct  of  such  councils  has 
much  to  do  with  the  continuance  of  their  use         .        .        .    244-246 

The  act  of  ordination  should  be  greatly  simplified       ...  247 

The  fellowship  of  the  churches  is  evoked  in  the  epoch  when  any 
pastor  becomes  notably  unsound  in  doctrine,  or  impure  in 
morals 248,  249 

The  six  ways  of  communion  laid  down  in  the  Cambridge"  Platform 

suggest  the  means  for  such  fellowship  in  discipline      .        .    249,  250 

As  a  pastor  of  the  local  church,  no  minister  can  be  reached  other- 
wise than  through  that  church 251,  252 


XVI  SYNOPSIS  OF  CONTENTS. 

LECTURE  Vin. 

THE    PRINCIPLE    OF    THE    COMMUNION    OF    CHURCHES. 

PAGE. 

The  effort  to  accomplish  a  formal  uuion  lias  always  been  one  of  the 
chief  causes  of  schism.  In  the  Congregational  system  of  church 
order  there  has  been  perpetual  difficulty  in  adjusting  the  two 
principles  of  the  autonomy  of  the  local  church  and  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  churches.  The  right  adjustment  of  these  principles 
is  a  matter  for  reasonable  difference  of  views         .        .        .    253-256 

Two  great  truths  belonging  to  the  entire  Christian  life  furnish  the 
points  of  starting  for  the  consideration  of  the  fellowship  of 
Christian  churches.  Brotherly  love  must  motive  all  Christian 
fellowship.     Christian  truthfulness  must  limit  it  all     .        .    256-258 

The  nature  of  true  communion  of  churches  may  be  understood  by 
considering  the  nature  of  schism.  Schism  is  a  breach  of  the 
manifested  unity  of  the  Church  of  Christ         ....    259-261 

Nothing  else,  then,  more  directly  tends  to  produce  and  foster 

schism  than  the  attempt  to  compel  uniformity      ....    261 

The  New  Testament  furnishes  us  with  certain  examjiles  of  the  com- 
munion of  churches,  for  the  most  part  of  the  most  informal 
kind.  Its  narrative  closes  too  early  to  disclose  examples  of  the 
more  formal  and  rarer  acts  of  communion;  but  the  so-called 
Council  at  Jerusalem  is  one  example  of  advice  asked  and  given, 
and  also  of  advice  proffered  to  those  who  had  not  asked  it,     261-264 

The  instituting  of  a  Congregational  church  offers  opportunity  for 
an  application  of  this  principle  of  communion.  There  is  now 
special  reason  why  the  principle  should  be  ajijilied  in  most  cases, 
where  a  new  church  is  formed 265-267 

In  spite  of  the  right  which  belongs  to  all  believers  to  form  them- 
selves into  a  church  by  a  mutual  covenanting,  the  application 
of  the  principle  of  commiinion  of  churches  may,  in  certain  cases, 
cause  a  suspension  of  that  right 267,  268 

The  design  in  applying  this  principle  is  to  secure  for  each  new 
Congregational  church  a  sound  and  durable  basis.  The  cove- 
nant, and  the  fitness  of  the  persons  who  propose  to  enter  into 
covenant,  are  the  chief  subjects  of  inquiry      ....    268-271 

Early  New-England  Congregational ists  had  no  need  to  make 
creeds  any  part  of  the  manifest  basis  of  their  local  churches. 
They  opposed  prescribing  confessions  of  faith  to  the 
churches 271-273 

But  a  church  may  be  called  upon  by  prevalent  heresies,  or  in 
the  desire  to  manifest  its  unity  in  the  faith  with  other  churches, 
to  adopt  or  construct  a  confession  of  belief.  Three  stages  in 
the  use  of  creeds  by  local  churches  may  be  discovered  in  the 
history  of  Amei-ican  Congregationalism:  (1)  The  churches  have 


SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS.  xvii 

PAGE. 

only  covenants,  or  simple  heart-creeds;  (2)  The  churches  refer 
to  some  of  the  larger  symbols  as  setting  forth  for  substance  of 
doctrine  their  own  belief;  (3)  The  churches  are  moved  by  the 
presence  of  heresies  to  make  more  elaborate  creeds  for  them- 
selves         273-276 

The  amount  of  doctrinal  agreement  required  as  a  basis  for  the 
fellowship  of  Congregational  churches,  in  the  stricter  sense  of 
fellowship,  should  include  only  fundamental  truths     .        .    276,  277 

ExPEKiENCE  does  not  show  that  the  free  and  progressive  way  of 
formulating  articles  of  faith  according  to  occasion  tends  to  pro- 
duce heresy.  The  rise  of  Unitarianism  does  not  at  all  prove 
such  a  tendency;  for  Unitarianism  did  not  arise  through  laxity 
or  lack  of  creeds 277-280 

Doctrinal  purity  in  particular  churches  must  be  secured  chiefly 

by  quickening  religious  life 280,  281 

The  very  terms   given   by  early  Congregationalism  to  the  local 

church  show  its  broad  views  and  generous  sympathies        .   281,  282 


LECTURE  IX. 

THE   PRINCIPLE   OF    THE    COMMUNION   OF   CHURCHES. 

The  previous  discussion  of  this  principle  prepares  us  to  consider 
the  question,  How  much  formal  communion  with  other  Con- 
gregational churches  is  necessary  in  order  to  constitute  a 
church  Congregational  ? 283-285 

All  acts  of  communion  are  either  formal  or  informal:  the  formal 

acts  are  either  direct  or  indirect 285 

The  intercourse  of  the  New-Testament  churches  Avas  varied,  warm, 
effectual,  but  almost  entirely  informal.  Our  most  effectual 
communion  of  churches  might  well  be  in  informal  ways     .    286-289 

There  is  only  one  direct  and  formal  way  of  communion  obligatory 
upon  Congregational  churches:  this  way  is  that  of  giving  and 
receiving  advice 289,  290 

Two  views  of  the  nature  of  the  advisory  council  and  its  advice,  or 
decree,  have  been  held  for  a  long  time.  Each  of  these  two  has 
a  truth  on  its  side:  both  have  been  ignorantly  or  extravagantly 
advocated 290-293 

The  value  of  the  advice  of  a  council  depends  upon  the  nature  of  its 
call,  its  constitution,  and  its  deliberations.  These  should  all 
be  characterized  by  charity  and  veracity        ....    293-296 

The  results  of  different  councils  will,  therefore,  differ  in  respect  to 
purity  and  force.  The  force  of  the  earlier  councils  was  caused 
by  the  genuine  character  wliich  went  into  them.  The  sole  way 
to  increase  the  authority  of  councils  is  to  give  them  a 
more  trustworthy  moral  character 297-300 


XViii  SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Congregationalism  knows  of  no  concrete  ultimatum       .       .    300-302 

The  principles  which  control  the  communion  of  churches  through 
Synods,  Consociations,  and  National  Council,  do  not  differ 
from  those  already  laid  down '       .    302-304 

The  source  of  the  authority  of  these  ways  of  communion  is  in  the 
mutual  agreement  of  the  churches  to  use  them.  Advice  should 
always  be  treated  with  prayerful  consideration    .        .        .    304-305 

Many  difficulties  and  dangers,  however,  accompany  the  use  of  the 
above-mentioned  means.  These  difficulties  and  dangers  beset 
the  National  Council:  they  do  not  destroy,  but  limit,  the  bene- 
fits of  all  standing  councils 305-310 

The  Association  of  Ministers  is  the  typical  way  of  indirect  and 
formal  communion  of  churches;  for,  although  these  associa- 
tions are  in  theory  only  ministerial  clubs,  they  have  in  fact 
much  influence  upon  the  fellowship  of  the  churches,  and  are 
permitted  by  the  churches  to  perform  certain  functions  which 
properly  belong  only  to  the  churches 310-312 

The  history  of  associations  shows  us  that  the  effort  to  express 
centralizing  force  uniformly  takes  the  form  of  ecclesiasticism. 
"  More  force  "  means  more  power  in  the  hands  of  the 
clergy 312-320 


LECTURE  X. 

THE    SELF-PROPAGATION    OF    CONGREGATIONALISM. 

The  principles  of  a  true  church  polity  have  important  applications 
to  the  growth  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  The  future 
belongs  to  Congregationalism  considered  as  a  matter  of  j^ure 
principles 321-324 

The  propagation  of  these  principles,  as  made  concrete  in  an  in- 
crease of  individual  churches,  is,  then,  the  duty  of  Congrega- 
tionalists 324,325 

Moreover,  these  principles  are  adapted  for  self-iiropagation,  as  the 
history  of  New-Testament  and  of  modern  missions  abundantly 
shows 325-328 

But  the  fact  also  ajipears,  that,  in  the  century  from  1776  to  1886, 
Congregationalism  in  this  country  fell  far  behind  several  of 
the  denominations  in  its  rate  of  increase        ....    328,329 

Two  important  distinctions  are  needed  to  estimate  the  meaning  of 
the  above-mentioned  fact:  first,  that  the  churches  which  are 
in  respect  to  polity  distinctively  Congregational  far  outnumber 
those  called  by  that  name;  and,  second,  that  the  propagation  of 
the  principles  of  Congregationalism  has  reached  far  beyond 
that  of  churches  which  have  a  polity  in  all  respects  Congrega- 
tional         329-334 


SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS.  xix 

PAGE. 

But  we  must  not  underrate  the  significance  of  the  facts;  for  pure 

principles  must  submit  themselves  to  the  test  of  facts  .        .    334, 335 

The  causes  of  the  relatively  slow  propagation  of  Congregational- 
ism are  of  three  kinds:  one  kind  of  these  causes  was  beyond 
control.  The  comparatively  recent  discovery  of  modern  Con- 
gregationalism, the  nature  of  American  immigration,  the  geo- 
graphical position  of  the  early  churches,  and  the  very  nature  of 
its  development,  have  limited  its  growth        ....    335-338 

Certain  weaknesses  have  also  hitherto  characterized  the  develop- 
ment of  Congregationalism  in  this  country.  A  spirit  of  provin- 
cialism, a  lack  of  versatility  iu  adapting  forms  to  circumstances, 
certain  inheritances  from  the  parish  system,  an  excess  of  dog- 
matism in  preaching,  and  a  lack  of  organizing  life-force,  are 
among  such  weaknesses 339-344 

Certain  more  distinctively  moral  blemishes  have  hindered  the 
growth  of  Congregationalism.  Indifference  to  its  principles, 
religious  formalism  opposing  itself  to  the  spirit  of  revival, 
excessive  debate,  and  neglect  of  the  so-called  lower  orders  of 
the  people,  are  among  such  blemishes 344-348 

But  in  looking  over  our  history  we  find  repeated  cases  of  inquiry 

into  the  causes  of  decline 348,  349 

After  giving  several  items  in  answer  to  the  question.  How  can 
the  self-propagation  of  a  true  church  polity  be  made  more 
efficient,  we  must  sum  up  all  by  saying.  The  great  and  per- 
manent need  of  this  polity  is  that  the  intelligent  Christian 
manhood  of  its  adherents  should  be  given  to  secure  its  highest 
prosperity  and  success 350-352 

If  this  above-mentioned  condition  of  success  be  not  furnished,  our 
name  may  live  as  some  new  form  of  a  sectarian  enterprise  ;  but 
real  Congregationalism  will  live  only  with  otherwise-named 
systems  of  church  order 353,  354 


LECTURE  XI. 

CONGREGATIONALISM    AND    FOREIGN    MISSIONS. 

The  question  as  to  the  final  cause  of  the  particular  visible  church 
should  excite  the  distinctive  interest  of  Congregationalists. 
The  spread  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  is  the  one  purpose 
of  *all  Christian  churches  :  this  one  purpose  includes  the  two 
elements  of  edification  and  evangelizing        ....     355-357 

In  view  of  the  responsibility  assigned  to  particular  churches  by 
the  principles  of  the  true  church  polity,  it  seems  surprising  that 
the  definitions  of  a  church  given  by  Congregational  writers 
should  so  rarely  include  the  final  juirpose  of  a  church  ;  thus 
neither  Davenjiort  nor  Owen  gives  formal  recognition  to  the 
missionary  obligation  of  the  particular  visible  church         .     357-360 


XX  SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Eakly  Congregationalism  in  this  country  did,  however,  give  a 
prominent  practical  recognition  to  the  above-mentioned  obliga- 
tion            360-363 

The  thrift  and  intensity  of  missionary  zeal  are  closely  related 
both  to  a  true  and  complete  doctrine  of  the  church,  and  to  the 
rise  and  fall  of  religious  life  in  the  churches         .        .        .     363,  364 

The  genuine  missionary  spirit  exhibits  the  characteristic  desire  to 

bring  the  gosjiel  to  the  most  destitute  and  neglected  .        ,     364,  365 

No  satisfactory  adjustment  of  the  principles  of  Congregationalism 

to  the  work  of  missions  has  as  yet  been  accomplished        .     365,  366 

The  general  question  of  the  relations  between  church-polity  and 
the  missionary  work  of  the  churches  concerns  these  three 
heads:  (1)  The  relation  of  the  individual  member  of  a  Congre- 
gational church  to  the  work  of  missions  ;  (2)  The  relation  of  the 
particular  visible  church  to  this  work  ;  (3)  The  relation  of 
the  communion  of  sister  Congregational  churches  to  the  same 
work 366, 367 

I.  The  principles  of  Congregationalism  lay  great  stress  upon  the 

obligation  of  the  individual  believer  in  the  propagation  of 
the  gosi^el  ;  for  it  is  the  missionary  spirit  which  organizes  the 
means  of  missionary  work 367-369 

The  records  of  early  Christianity  show  its  triumphs  through  the 
spontaneous  work  of  individuals.  Although  certain  favoring 
institutions  existed  in  the  Roman  Empire,  Mohammedanism 
wins  to-day  many  triumphs  by  the  same  kind  of  work  :  modern 
Christian  missionary  work  has  also  accomplished  much  by 
using  the  principle  of  "  sanctified  individualism  "       .        .      369-374 

But  we  must  emphasize  yet  more  the  duty  and  power  of  the  indi- 
vidual believer  in  propagating  the  gospel.  The  evangelist  is 
the,  true  successor  of  the  Apostles.  The  foreign  missionary 
stands  in  the  relation  of  apostolic  authority  to  the  churches 
which  he  plants 374-377 

New  and  surprising  results  may  be  expected  from  the  unorganized 
efforts  of  individual  missionary  zeal.  Each  new  church  planted 
on  missionary  gi'ound  must  become  a  new  centre  for  use  of  the 
principle  of  "  sanctified  individualism  "        ....     377,378 

II.  Every  particular  visible  church  is  also  bound  to  become  a 
centre  for  the  self-propagation  of  the  gospel.  The  spread  of  the 
gospel  is  largely  a  matter  of  multiplying  churches       .        .    379,  380 

Congregational  churches  have  a  distinctive  work  in  the  multi- 
plying of  converts  who  shall  be  gathered  into,  and  trained  in, 
New-Testament  churches.  This  work  is  feasible  ;  for  Congre- 
gational churches  can  be  organized  wherever  converts  are 
made  ;  and  missionary  churches  can  be  trained  to  be  self- 
supporting,  self-governing,  and  self-propagating  .        .        .      381-384 

The  great  need  is,  however,  that  the  principles  of  the  gospel  and 
the  true  church  polity  should  control  the  churches  at  home. 


SYNOPSIS  OF  CONTENTS.  XXI 

PAGE. 

This  control  would   effect,  (1)   The   culture  of  intelligence, 

(2)  The  growth  of  interest  leading  to  the  use  of  means,  and, 

(3)  The  multiplying  and  increased  efficiency  of  means        .      384-386 
III.  The  principles  which  underlie  the  communion  of  churches 

should  be  evoked  and  used  in  missionary  work.  But  more 
hardness  in  forms,  and  more  pressure  to  secure  uniformity,  will 
deaden,  rather  than  quicken,  missionary  zeal       .        .        .     387-389 

Thje  end  of  evangelizing  the  world  is  the  true  end  before  all  the 
churches  in  their  collective  workiug  ;  but  the  special  end  of 
all  Congregational  churches  is,  having  converted  men,  to  gather 
them  into  truly  Christian  communions,  and  so  convert  them 
into  means  for  converting  the  world 389-392 

A  FEW  of  the  means  which  may  be  employed  thus  to  utilize  the 
communion  of  Congregational  churches  for  the  conversion  of 
the  world  are  finally  suggested 392-395 


LECTURE  Xn. 

PRESENT  AND  PROSPECTIVE  TENDENCIES  OF  CONGREGATIONALISM. 

In  examining  the  tendencies  which  are  at  present  influencing  the 
Congregational  system  of  church  order,  we  need  to  keep  in 
mind  the  principles  and  their  applications,  as  already  discussed; 
yet  the  most  careful  and  skilful  application  of  the  true  prin- 
ciples of  church  polity  will  not  secure  a  practical  infalli- 
bility         396-399 

When  important  contingencies  which  have  not  been  contemplated 
arise,  a  reference  and  adherence  to  principles  will  secure  the 
wisest  and  safest  conduct.  The  common  law  of  this  system  of 
church  order  pro\ndes,  however,  a  set  of  rules  and  ciistoms 
which  may  be  used  whenever  their  use  is  not  virtually  contra- 
dictory of  the  principles.  It  is  always  Congregational  to  refer 
to  principles 399-401 

The  student  of  Congregationalism  should  become  its  adherent,  if 

at  all,  from  principle 401,  402 

Among  the  present  tendencies  which  make  themselves  felt  in  the 
Congregational  system  of  church  order  is  a  spirit  of  extreme 
restlessness.  This  spirit  occasions  many  unthinking  proposals 
for  changes 402,  403 

The  spirit  of  restlessness  is,  however,  a  common  manifestation  in 
the  entire  life  of  Christendom.  In  the  special  case  of  church 
polity  the  desire  of  change  is  not  so  much  the  result  of  an 
intelligent  conviction  that  the  old  forms  are  defective,  as  the 
result  of  the  general  feeling  of  restlessness.  All  institutions 
and  customs,  and  all  the  denominations  and  sects  feel  the  im- 
pulses of  this  same  spirit 403-407 


XXil  SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

The  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  present  organization  of  the 

Christian  Church  is  not  an  unmixed  evil        ....    407,  408 

This  feeling  has,  however,  mistaken  the  causes  of  evils  and  the 
subjects  for  change.  There  is  need  of  candid  examination  and 
fair  argument  to  show  lohat  changes  should  be  introduced.  In 
general,  the  real  grounds  for  any  defensible  dissatisfaction  are 
not  in  the  principles  of  Congregationalism,  or  even  in  their 
ancient  ways  of  application,  so  much  as  in  the  indifference  and 
ignorance  of  its  own  adherents 408-411 

The  tendency  to  exalt  the  beneficial  results  of  so-called  force  and 
authority  is  another  feature  of  our  present  condition.  This 
tendency  is  not  new:  Increase  Mather  complained  of  it  as 
present  in  the  synods  of  1657  and  1002.  To  attempt  to  drive 
measures  without  fair  and  deliberate  debate,  and  appeal  to  rea- 
son and  the  Word  of  God,  is,  nevertheless,  uncongregational,  411-413 

The  tendency  to  depress  argument,  and  exalt  the  force  of  majori- 
ties, is  present  in  political  as  well  as  in  ecclesiastical  affairs,  413-415 

The  tendency  to  indirection  is  the  most  baleful  one  of  all.  This 
tendency  also  has  been  manifest  in  the  past,  but  is  contrary  to 
the  genius  of  the  Congregational  church  polity.  This  polity 
favors  "  straightforward  "  conduct,  candid  and  frank  expression 
of  views 415-418 

But  indirection  is  the  method  of  politics,  and  it  has  crept  into  the 

churches :  it  is  especially  to  be  hated  and  dreaded        .        .  418,  419 

These  evil  tendencies  are  combated  by  certain  tendencies 
toward  good,  among  which  the  drawing  of  the  churches  to- 
gether in  informal  communion  for  the  spread  of  the  gospel  is 
the  most  encouraging 419,  420 

In  answer  to  the  question,  What  is  the  outlook  for  Congregational- 
ism? so  far  as  changes  in  its  rules  and  customs  are  concerned, 
no  answer  can  be  given  with  confidence.  It  is  possible  that 
some  new  and  influential  symbol  or  catechism  may  be  con- 
structed, or  that  through  the  National  Council,  or  otherwise, 
some  expression  of  an  organic  unity  may  be  attained.  But  it 
is  not  clear  that  any  such  uniformity  would  secure  a  real  unity. 
It  is  certain  that  the  effort  to  force  such  uniformity  would 
result  in  schism 420-423 

We  may  confidently  expect,  however,  to  see  the  true  doctrine  of 
the  church  gain  adherents,  and  the  principles  of  this  doctrine 
more  and  more  realized  in  the  practices  of  the  churches.  To 
this  doctrine  the  future  belongs.  Indeed,  in  some  practical 
regards,  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  is  destined  to  be  regarde'd 
as  the  most  important  of  the  Christian  doctrines  .        .        .    423-426 

While,  then,  no  intelligent  adherent  of  the  principles  of  the  true 
Church  Polity  would  wish  to  see  the  rules  and  customs  of  pres- 
ent Congregationalism  projiagated  everywhere,  every  such 
adherent  expects  to  see  his  principles  triumph  everywhere,    426-428 


SYNOPSIS   OF   CONTENTS.  xxili 

PAGE. 

TuE  triumph  of  the  principles  will  bring  that  condition  of  the 
Church  for  which  Christ  prayed:  the  condition  is  that,  not  sim- 
ply of  an  invisible  spiritual  unity,  but  of  a  manifested  unity,  428-431 

To  establish  the  principles  which  make  possible  such  a  manifested 
unity  the  early  New-England  Congregationalists  suffered  long 
and  much:  their  descendants  have  no  right  simply  to  crave 
one  place  among  the  other  denominations  or  sects       .       .    431-433 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  nature  of  our  theme,  and  of  its  original  treat- 
ment in  a  Course  of  Lectures  to  theological  students, 
seems  to  make  necessary,  on  presentation  of  the  opin- 
ions advocated  to  a  larger  and  less  strictly  classified 
audience,  some  special  introduction.  This  introduction 
should  gather  up  and  consider  together  certain  ones  of 
the  more  important  and  distinctive  of  those  opinions, 
which,  from  the  very  conditions  belonging  to  a  lecture- 
ship, have  been  dwelt  upon  only  briefly  in  various  sepa- 
rate portions  of  the  entire  course.  The  reader  may 
have  his  interest  elicited  by  knowing  from  the  first 
what  are  some  of  the  assumptions  made  by  the  author ; 
what,  also,  are  some  of  the  conclusions  at  which  he 
arrives.  And  since  the  reader  and  the  author  cannot, 
like  the  student  in  attendance  before  the  lecturer,  come 
to  a  common  point  of  view  by  means  of  reciprocal  ques- 
tion and  answer,  it  may  be  helpful  if  some  clew  to 
the  course  traversed  is  from  the  outset  placed  within 
the  reader's  hand. 

Moreover,  the  statements  made  and  the  language 
emploj^ed  might  appear,  in  certain  cases,  to  be  inexact 
or  even  offensive,  if  unexplained;  and  this  might 
happen  on  account  of  mistaking  the  precise  views  which 
it  was  intended  to  uphold.     The  author,  then,  particu- 

1 


2  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY. 

larly  requests  that  tlie  subsequent  detailed  treatment  of 
the  various  subjects  which  are  discussed  shall  all  be 
regarded  in  the  light  of  the  postulates  and  explanations 
made  in  the  Introduction. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  it  is  assumed  throughout 
these  Discourses,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  proper  organi- 
zation and  government  of  the  Christian  Church  is  a 
doctrine  of  no  mean  order  or  small  importance  in  the 
Christian  system  of  truth.  There  is  little  doubt,  indeed, 
that  the  popular  estimate  tends  to  place  this  doctrine 
very  low  down,  if  not  completely  below,  the  entire 
scale.  The  reasons  for  this  degrading  estimate  are 
not  difficult  to  find.  They  lie,  in  part,  in  the  historic 
fact  that  the  various  forms  of  church  polity  have  been 
discussed  and  prosecuted  with  much  sectarian  bigotry 
and  ignorant  zeal.  Moreover,  the  discussion  and  prose- 
cution of  these  forms  have  almost  habitually  resulted  in 
segregating  about  points  of  minor  importance  those  who 
should  rather  have  been  united  around  the  great  things 
of  their  common  Christian  faith.  Indifference  to  all 
mere  questions  of  ecclesiastical  organization  and  gov- 
ernment has  been  the  inevitable  re-action  from  such 
bigotry  and  zeal.  On  the  whole,  it  has  happily  come 
about,  that  to  raise  the  cry  of  a  sectarian  or  denomina- 
tional name  is  to  cut  one's  self  off  from  the  regard  of 
the  better  intellects,  and  from  the  sympathies  of  the 
larger  hearts. 

But,  like  all  re-actions  of  feeling,  this  one  has  often 
been,  in  its  own  way,  as  blind  and  unreasoning  as  the 
sectarian  zeal  which  originally  called  the  re-action  forth. 
For  surely  the  present  age  of  human  thought  is  not  the 
age  in  which  to  depreciate  questions  of  organization 
and  government,  whether  they  concern  the  Church  of 
Christ,  or  the  civil  estate.     To  be  wholly  indifferent  to 


ESTTKODUCTION.  3 

all  such  questions  would  simply  separate  one  wholly 
from  the  themes  upon  which  the  human  mind  is  now 
bestowing  much  of  its  best  thought,  the  human  will 
much  of  its  most  strenuous  endeavor.  And  certainly 
no  other  inquiries  more  quickly  and  forcefully  move 
the  feelings  of  men  than  those  which  concern  the  right 
construction  and  management  of  both  Church  and 
State. 

It  ought,  indeed,  to  be  unnecessary  to  argue  the  im- 
portance of  a  true  theory  and  right  practice  of  church 
polity.  But  the  indifference  in  some  quarters  to  such 
subjects  renders  it  pardonable  that  every  writer  upon 
church  polity  should,  at  least  in  a  few  words,  plead  the 
dignity  of  his  theme. 

Such  a  plea  may  appear  to  have  compelling  force 
when  we  dwell  even  for  a  moment  upon  the  thought 
suggested  above.  The  interest  of  mankind  in  the  con- 
struction and  government  of  civil  affairs  is,  indeed, 
great,  and  constantly  increasing.  But  modern  history 
is  not  able  to  draw  a  hard  and  fixed  line  between  civil 
and  ecclesiastical  developments  in  government.  Plow 
much  our  own  civil  polity  owes  to  the  church  polity  of 
the  Puritans ;  how  much  civil  liberty  in  England  was 
affected  by  the  religious  liberty  which  had  been  achieved 
in  New  England ;  how  much,  in  general,  the  world  owes 
for  its  civil  freedom  to  those  who  have  thought  and  suf- 
fered to  achieve  freedom  in  the  Church,  —  will  be  briefly 
indicated  in  some  of  the  lectures  of  this  course.  It  is 
fortunate  for  those  who  are  so  unconcerned  in  all  ques- 
tions of  church  polity,  and  so  especially  cold  toward 
the  Congregational  system  of  church  order,  that  the 
founders  of  this  church  order  were  not,  in  like  manner, 
unconcerned.  It  is  fortunate  for  those  descendants  of 
Puritans  who  have  come  to  regard  their  ancestral  estate 


4  PRINCIPLES   OP   CHUPCH  POLITY. 

as  a  mere  entailment  of  expedients,  that  their  own 
fathers  did  not  regard  it  in  the  same  way.  In  fine,  we 
cannot  wholly  separate  the  foundations  of  civil  and 
religious  freedom ;  we  cannot  make  the  construction  of 
the  Church  a  matter  of  no  importance  to  the  State ;  we 
cannot  construct  the  Church  after  the  ideal  of  a  true 
Church  polity  without  influencing  the  State ;  we  can- 
not permanently  maintain  interest  in  either  one  form 
of  organization  to  the  exclusion  of  interest  also  in  the 
other. 

And  that  this  close  relation  between  ecclesiastical 
polity  and  civil  polity  is  not  merely  theoretical,  the 
entire  history  of  Christendom  "abundantly  testifies. 
The  organific  ideas  which  predominate  in  any  special 
region  or  era  will  shape  largely  alike  the  structure  of 
both  Church  and  State.  This  community  of  life  and 
also  of  form  is  especially  exemplified  in  much  of  mod- 
ern history.  We  might,  then,  claim  by  an  appeal  to 
facts,  that  scarcely  any  other  questions  have  proved  of 
more  practical  importance  both  to  the  Church  and  to 
mankind  than  those  which  concern  her  right  construc- 
tion and  control.  What  is  the  true  Church  Polity? 
Whence  do  we  derive  the  theory  of  it?  and  how  far 
find  it  exemplified  in  any  one,  or  in  many,  of  the  exist- 
ing forms?  What  measures  and  institutions  are  con- 
sistent with  its  principles,  and  what  openly  or  implicitly 
contradict  them  ?  These  are  inquiries  of  superior  inter- 
est to  the  welfare  of  man,  both  as  a  Christian,  and  as  a 
citizen  or  subject  of  civil  government.  The  influence 
of  the  answers  given  to  these  inquiries  by  the  differ- 
ent forms  of  ordering  the  Christian  Church  ramifies 
throughout  the  entire  structure  of  society. 

And,  if  we  consider  the  same  inquiries  in  their  inte- 
rior relations   to   the   system   of  Christian   truth,  our 


INTRODUCTION".  6 

conclusion  as  to  their  importance  is  strengthened  and 
enlarged.  It  is  possible,  indeed,  to  give  to  a  church 
polity  only  a  frail  and  transient  connection  with  the 
greater  and  more  vital  Christian  truths.  It  is  impossi- 
ble to  give  to  certain  forms  of  church  polity  any  other 
than  this  frail  and  transient  connection.  Many  of  the 
former  detailed  disputes  concerning  the  customs  and 
order  of  the  New-Testament  churches  have  been  of  late, 
by  a  fairer  and  more  comprehensive  exegesis,  nearly  or 
quite  settled.  The  advocates  of  different  forms  of  polity 
now  no  longer  need  to  debate  so  hotly  what  the  early 
Christians  did  in  the  construction  and  government  of 
their  churches.^  They  are  less  likely  than  they  once 
were  to  hold  forth  the  example  of  the  Jewish  Church 
for  imitation  by  believers  of  Christ  at  this  nineteenth 
century.  And  yet  it  would  almost  seem,  that,  the  more 
agreement  is  attained  as  to  the  facts  of  the  earliest 
Christian  church  polity,  the  less  weight  is  given  to  the 
argument  from  those  facts  in  favor  of  copying  precisely 
that  earliest  polity.  Nor  is  this  manner  of  handling 
the  argument  to  be  by  any  means  wholly  condemned ; 

1  The  recent  work  of  Edwin  Hatch  —  Tlie  Organization  of  the  Early 
Christian  C'/iucc/ies,  Bampton  Lectures  for  1880  — presents  with  admira- 
ble scholarship,  clearness,  and  candor,  the  facts  as  to  the  polity  of  the 
churches  in  the  era  immediately  following  the  New-Testament  writings. 
All  the  more  important  features  of  the  Congregational  doctrine  as  to  the 
proper  organization  of  Christian  churches  may  be  seen  still  predomi- 
nant in  the  age  to  which  the  hierarchical  system  of  church  order  has 
been  wont  most  confidently  to  appeal.  Mr.  Hatch  shows,  that,  in  the 
second  century,  "ordination  meant  appointment  and  admission  to 
ofHce,  and  that  it  was  conceived  as  being  of  the  same  nature  with  ap- 
pointment and  admission  to  civil  office."  This  doctrine  is,  even  in  lan- 
guage, almost  identical  with  that  of  the  Puritans.  Mr.  Hatch  even 
makes  it  appear  probable  that  imposition  of  hands  was  not  in  that  age 
regarded  as  an  essential  element  of  the  rite  of  ordination.  The  argu- 
ment does  not,  however,  seem  to  controvert  the  teaching  of  these 
Lectures  as  to  the  view  of  the  New  Testament  concerning  the  dynamic 
"  laying-on  of  bands." 


6  PEll^CIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY. 

for  the  deeper  and  stronger  connections  which  the  true 
theory  of  church  polity  may  make  with  the  most  vital 
truths  of  the  Christian  religion,  are  not  to  be  reached 
in  the  direct  way.  Proof-texts  for  schemes  and  theo- 
ries of  church  polity  are  subject  to  the  general  laws  of 
exegesis  and  biblical  theology,  as  those  sciences  are 
understood  and  practised  by  the  mind  of  to-day.  The 
mistaken  assumption  that  the  earliest  churches  did  all 
things  best,  or  are  in  all  respects  a  pattern  to  modern 
churches,  or  constituted  themselves  in  the  details  of 
their  system  under  orders  which  bore  the  sanction  of 
apostles  and  even  of  Jesus  himself,  vitiates  the  argu- 
ment as  it  is  often  too  hastily  derived  from  these  texts. 
The  view  of  this  Course  of  Lectures  intends  somewhat 
more  than  the  above-mentioned  argument,  when  it 
appears  everywhere  to  connect  the  true  church  polity 
with  important  and  indisputable  Christian  truths. 

We  believe  that  the  ideal  construction  and  govern- 
ment of  Christian  churches  flows  forth  theoretically 
from  certain  undoubted  propositions  regarding  the  rela- 
tions of  redeemed  man  with  Christ  and  of  redeemed 
men  with  one  another.  That  each  believer  is  a  priest 
and  king ;  that  each  church  should  be  constituted  only 
of  confessed  believers ;  that  each  church  thus  consti- 
tuted is  responsible  in  things  spiritual  to  Christ  as  its 
only  head  and  ruler ;  that  Christian  churches  should 
commune  with  one  another  in  the  things  of  the  gospel ; 
that  every  Christian,  and  each  local  community  of 
Christians,  while  seeking  truth  in  the  light  of  time-hon- 
ored customs  and  human  authorities,  is,  nevertheless, 
both  permitted  and  obligated  to  change  opinion  and 
practice,  as  the  appearance  of  truth  from  the  word  of 
God  and  the  Christian  consciousness  is  seen  to  change, 
—  these  are  statements  intimately  connected  with  the 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

innermost  nature  of  the  religion  of  our  Lord.  To 
deny  the  statements  does  not  leave  this  nature  unaf- 
fected. That  the  doctrine  of  those  relations  in  which 
the  individual  believer  and  the  separate  community  of 
believers  stand  to  the  Holy  Spirit  is  an  important 
doctrine,  none  will  be  found  to  deny.  Upon  all  these 
and  kindred  matters  of  the  Christian  faith  two  great 
classes  of  opinions,  with  their  corresponding  drifts  and 
tendencies,  everywhere  appear:  of  these  the  one  is  the 
priestly  and  hierarchical,  the  other  the  more  popular 
and  prophetic.  As  the  author  has  occasion  to  say 
again,  —  and  both  times  with  the  deepest  reverence,  — 
a  certain  theory  of  the  Christian  Church  democratizes 
the  alliances  and  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  a  cer- 
tain other  theory  of  the  Church  tends  to  make  the 
divine  spiritual  work  with  the  human  soul  more  medi- 
ate and  aristocratic.  Without  asserting,  in  this  con- 
nection, which  of  these  two  tendencies  of  thought  leads 
us  to  the  true  idea  and  practice  of  church  polity,  it  is 
enough  to  point  out  how  intimately  this  idea  and  prac- 
tice are  related  to  the  profoundest  Christian  truths. 

The  doctrine  of  a  true  church  polity  is,  moreover, 
closely  related  to  the  doctrine  of  Sacred  Scripture.  To 
understand  this  statement  in  its  fullest  import,  one 
must  see  in  it  much  more  than  a  mere  declaration  that 
a  skilful  use  of  proof-texts  will  enable  the  advocate  of 
this  polity  to  appeal  to  direct  New-Testament  authority. 
We  must  think  more  broadly  yet,  if  we  wish  to  secure 
permanent  scriptural  authority  for  any  specific  system 
of  church  order.  Attention  has  already  been  called  to 
the  assumptions  which  may  underlie  and  vitiate  the  so- 
called  biblical  argument,  when  managed  in  the  ordinary 
way.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  it  does  not  seem  proba- 
ble, on  a  priori  grounds,  that  the  Christian  Church  has 


8  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY. 

been  left  entirely  without  divine  direction  in  the  Word 
of  God  as  to  its  own  constitution  and  government.  And 
should  we  be  obliged  in  this  matter  to  do  as  Luther  did, 
—  to  distinguish  between  the  books,  words,  and  letters 
of  the  Bible  and  the  Word  of  God  which  is  found  in 
them,  —  we  should  with  confidence  endeavor  by  all 
means  to  discover  the  truth  upon  this  one  subject  as 
upon  other  portions  of  the  Christian  faith. 

We  believe,  indeed,  that  the  Scriptures  teach  with 
su£Qcient  clearness  what  is  the  true  way  of  constituting 
and  controlling  churches  of  Christ ;  but  they  do  not 
offer  this  teaching  in  the  form  either  of  express  divine 
injunction,  or  of  earl}'-  example  designed  in  all  its  details 
to  be  a  perpetual  model.  They  teach,  rather,  those  prin- 
ciples concerning  both  the  essence  and  the  form  of  Chris- 
tian living  which  are  for  the  control  of  all  individuals 
and  particular  churches.  But  they  do  somewhat  more 
than  this.  They  teach  concretely  and  historically.  They 
give  us  the  narrative  —  meagre,  it  is  true,  and  in  some 
respects  obscure  and  debatable  —  of  the  early  institu- 
tions which  embodied  these  principles.  By  the  voice  of 
principles,  and  by  the  voice  of  historical  illustrations 
and  enforcements  of  these  principles,  they  invite  into 
the  right  way,  and  warn  from  that  which  is  wrong. 

We  have,  moreover,  the  witness  of  the  Christian  con- 
sciousness, and  the  testimony  of  Christian  experience, 
extending  over  eighteen  hundred  years.  By  diligent 
use  of  all  these  means  it  is  quite  as  possible  to  discover 
and  set  forth  the  true  biblical  and  Christian  doctrine 
of  Church  Polity  as  any  other  doctrine  in  the  congeries 
of  allied  truths.  Indeed,  the  principles  which  underlie 
this  especial  doctrine  are  so  plain  in  their  meaning,  and 
so  clear  in  their  application  to  the  case  in  hand,  that 
the  argument  derived  from  them  should  seem  especially 
plain  and  clear. 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

We  may  now  briefly  set  forth  the  opinion  held  in 
these  Lectures  as  to  the  divine  right  of  some  one  amoncf 
the  many  forms  of  church  polity.  In  not  a  few  cases 
the  author  will  appear  to  be  using  the  terms,  "the 
true  Church  Polity  "  and  "  Congregationalism,"  as  inter- 
changeable terms.  And  yet  he  is  the  farthest  possible 
from  believing  that  any  existing  sect,  or  denomination, 
or  so-called  "church,"  —  meaning  by  the  word  "church" 
a  particular  way  of  ordering  a  considerable  number  of 
believers,  —  can  claim  to  exist  by  exclusive  divine  right. 
The  thinking  Avorld  is  so  tired  of  the  sophistry  and 
arrogance  involved  in  such  a  claim,  that  it  is  nearly 
ready  to  refuse  it  henceforth  a  patient  and  respectful 
hearing.  That  no  hierarchical  system  of  church  gov- 
ernment, with  whatever  modifications  it  may  be  accom- 
panied, can  assume  to  represent  the  Apostolic  Churches, 
has  been  shown  again  and  again.  But  what  shall  we 
say  of  those  democratic  forms  which  have  originated 
from  time  to  time  in  the  effort  to  repeat  precisely  the 
institutions  and  experiences  of  the  Apostolic  Age?  Of 
some  of  them  we  must  indeed  say  that  their  assump- 
tions are  no  less  arrogant  than  those  of  the  hierarchi- 
cal forms,  while  their  imitations  of  the  churches  of 
the  apostles  are  scarcely  more  successful.  We  should 
justly  leave  our  own  views  open  to  the  charge  of 
arrogant  assumption,  if  we  permitted  them  to  be  under- 
stood as  claiming  for  the  present  polity  of  Congrega- 
tional churches  the  sole  title  to  a  place  beside  those 
of  the  Apostolic  Age.  For,  firstly,  we  do  not  think  that 
the  true  church  polity  calls  for  a  simple  imitation  of 
the  forms  of  the  earliest  CJiristian  churches ;  a^d,  sec- 
ondly, neither  tlie  Congregational  churches,  nor  those 
of  any  other  known  church  order,  precisely  represent 
those  ancient  forms ;    and,  tliirdly,  it  would  be    quite 


10  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY. 

possible,  at  least  for  a  time,  to  imitate  the  Apostolic 
Churches  most  closely,  and  yet  be  farthest  removed 
from  a  faithful  adoption  of  the  principles  of  the  true 
Church  Polity.  The  imitation  of  early  Christianity,  like 
the  imitation  of  Christ,  should  be  one  of  heart  and  spirit 
rather  than  of  precise  forms. 

Yet  we  are  by  no  means  without  the  intention  and 
the  courage  to  make  for  modern  Congregationalism  a 
special  claim.  For  the  principles  of  the  true  church 
polity,  the  ideal  way  of  constituting  and  governing 
Christian  churches,  we  claim  that  they  are  obligatory 
upon,  and  applicable  to,  all  times  and  conditions  of 
human  society  by  divine  right.  For  Congregation- 
alism, we  claim  that  it  has  in  unique  fashion,  and  with 
unexampled  power  and  extent  of  influence,  embodied 
and  illustrated  these  principles.  In  so  far  as  it  has 
embodied  and  illustrated  them,  it  has  hitherto  existed 
by  divine  right.  In  so  far  as  it  now  embodies  and 
illustrates  these  same  principles  with  more  of  intelli- 
gence and  self-conscious  fidelity  than  any  other  system 
of  church  order,  it  has  now  a  special  right  to  the  claim 
of  being  most  like  the  true  church  polity.  But  in  so 
far  as  it  has  departed  from  these  principles,  and  has 
either  neglected  their  propagation,  or  descended  into 
the  arena  of  sectarian  strife,  we  have  for  it  no  claim  to 
make. 

A  certain  divine  right  to  existence  not  only,  but  also 
to  supremacy,  belongs  to  the  true  church  polity.  The 
right  belongs  to  the  polity,  when  considered  as  a  matter 
of  principles  which  are  embodied  in  the  proper  con- 
struction and  control  of  Christian  churches.  Within 
certain  limits  different  forms  of  constructing  and  con- 
trolling these  churches  may  agree  in  their  acceptance 
and   exemplification   of    these    principles.      But    such 


INTRODUCTION.  H 

forms  as  either  ignore  or  contravene  these  principles 
lose  so  far  forth  their  right  to  existence :  they  are  to 
be  regarded  as  products  of  human  ignorance  and  selfish- 
ness, however  strenuous  and  exclusive  they  may  make 
their  claim  to  a  divine  right.  The  specific  details  of 
the  forms  which  shall  embody  the  principles  are  indeed 
left,  under  the  divine  Spirit,  to  the  skill  of  men  and  to 
the  changing  exigencies  of  history ;  but  the  principles 
themselves  are  fundamental,  and  are  given  in  the  Word 
of  God.  That  specific  system  of  church  order  will, 
then,  have  a  pre-eminent  claim  to  a  divine  right,  which 
with  most  intelligence  conceives,  and  with  most  effect 
realizes,  the  principles  involved.  And  this  claim  can- 
not be  perpetuated  in  a  name;  as,  for  example,  the 
Catholic  Church,  the  Church  of  England,  or  the  Con- 
gregational church  order.  It  must  rather  be  perpetu- 
ally renewed  by  showing  a  'superior  power  to  hold  the 
principles  of  a  true  church  polit}^  and  to  give  them 
concrete  manifestation  in  the  multiplication  of  churches 
which  are  instituted  and  governed  according  to  these 
principles. 

But  the  following  questions  will,  of  course,  at  once 
present  themselves  to  every  thinker  upon  our  theme  : 
Have  not  all  systems  of  church  order  exemplified,  to 
some  extent  at  least,  the  principles  of  a  true  church 
polity?  And  may  not  different  systems  at  different 
eras,  and  under  the  differing  circumstances  of  history, 
do  this  equally  well  ?  or  may  not  some  system  be  the 
nearest  approach  to  the  ideal  possible  at  one  time, 
another  system  at  another  time  ?  Moreover,  how  far 
are  the  limitations  of  form  given  in  the  principles  them- 
selves, so  that  we  can  consider  the  choice  of  each 
particular  system  as  involving  only  questions  of  expe- 
diency? A  brief  answer  to  each  of  these  three  ques- 
tions is  in  place  at  this  point. 


12  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY. 

Our  reply  to  the  first  one  of  them  must  consist  in 
making  distinctions.  Doubtless  the  same  truth  holds 
good  of  the  polity  of  different  groups  of  Christian 
churches  which  holds  good  of  their  doctrine.  The 
essential  and  fundamental  things  of  Christian  faith 
may  remain  undestroj^ed,  although  buried  fathoms  deep 
in  heresies  upon  unessential  or  less  important  truths. 
Nor  can  we  tell  with  confidence  precisely  at  what  point 
a  body  of  nominal  Christians  must  be  said  to  have 
passed  beyond  all  claim  to  the  essential  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ.  Thus  may  one  or  more  of  the  principles 
which  will  be  enumerated  as  constituting  the  essence 
of  a  true  church  polity  be  greatly  obscured,  or  even 
wholly  contravened ;  and  yet  it  may  not  be  safe  to 
affirm  that  the  community  thus  in  part  wrongly  con- 
stituted and  controlled,  is,  therefore,  not  to  be  called  a 
true  Christian  church.  For  this  reason,  principled 
Congregationalism  can  rightly  claim  that  it  is  the  only 
true  church  polity ;  and  yet  it  may  be  the  farthest  pos- 
sible from  speaking  of  other  systems  of  church  order  as 
though  they  were  not  also  churches  of  Christ. 

To  illustrate  by  a  single  application  of  the  general 
truth :  It  is  a  principle  of  the  true  Chiu-ch  Polity  that 
the  local  community  shall  make  the  attempt  to  constitute 
itself  upon  a  basis  of  regenerate  membership,  because 
this  basis  is  the  only  right  basis  for  constituting  a 
Christian  church.  The  best  realization  of  this  principle, 
however,  Congregationalists  have  attempted  to  attain, 
under  differing  circumstances,  in  differing  ways ;  some- 
times by  written  or  oral  confession  made  to  the  church 
in  open  assembly ;  sometimes  by  the  same  confession 
made  to  the  officers  of  the  church ;  sometimes  by  pla- 
cing the  individual  upon  his  own  silent  recognizance  on 
entering  into  covenant  with   the   church.     Sometimes 


INTEODUCTION.  13 

they  have  virtually  abandoned  their  own  principle,  and 
have  either  passed  over  the  sole  main  condition  specified 
in  the  principle,  or  else  have  added  other  co-ordinate 
conditions  which  they  had  no  right  to  make.  Mean- 
while, certain  other  systems  of  church  order  have 
been  constituting  their  membership  by  baptism  and 
catechetical  discipline.  But  if  this  latter  method  of 
constituting  the  particular  churches  has  been  accompa- 
nied by  belief  in  the  dogma  of  baptismal  regeneration, 
then  the  difference  between  it  and  the  Congregational 
way  may  be  resolved  into  a  difference  about  the  doctrine 
of  regeneration  rather  than  a  disagreement  in  church 
polity  alone.  If  judged,  then,  by  adherence  to  this  one 
principle  of  a  regenerate  membership,  the  Congrega- 
tionalist  may  retain  his  name  after  virtually  annulling 
the  principle ;  and  the  practical  disregard  of  the  prin- 
ciple shown  by  the  Lutheran  or  the  Episcopalian  may 
be  due  to  a  theoretic  difference  in  some  region  of  dogma 
other  than  that  which  is  circumscribed  by  questions 
merely  of  polity.  But  we  should  not  be  able  to  declare 
that  either  of  them  was  not  a  member  of  the  visible 
church  of  Christ;  for  the  error  upon  tliis  one  prin- 
ciple of  church  polity  might  be  by  no  means  complete, 
and  therefore  thoroughly  destructive  of  the  principle. 
Moreover,  there  are  other  principles  which  enter  as  co- 
ordinate or  subordinate  elements  into  the  true  church 
polity  ;  and  any  particular  system  of  church  order  may 
be  saved  from  utter  and  hopeless  departure  from  the 
ideal  system  by  its  hold  upon  some  other  principles  — 
one  or  more  —  of  this  polity. 

In  fine,  just  as  it  is  adherence  in  faith  and  life  to 
Jesus  Christ  which  constitutes  and  controls  the  invisi- 
ble church,  and  renders  it  a  true  spiritual  communion, 
so  it  is  fidelity  to  the  principles  of  the   ideal  church 


14  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY. 

polity  which  constitutes  the  members  of  this  spiritual 
communion  into  visible  churches,  and  which  controls 
them  in  their  relations  as  rightl}^  constituted  churches. 
Complete  failure  in  faith  and  life  would  destroy  the 
church  invisible :  complete  failure  in  fidelity  to  the 
principles  of  the  ideal  polity  would  destroy  the  visible 
churches.  In  case  of  such  failure,  the  organized  bands 
of  individuals  would  be,  no  matter  what  presumptuous 
titles  they  might  assume  and  receive,  not  Christian 
"  churches  "  in  any  sense  of  the  word. 

It  would,  then,  be  difficult,  if  not  invidious,  to  dis- 
tribute amongst  the  different  sects  and  denominations 
of  historical  Christianity  the  due  measures  in  which 
their  claims  must  be. admitted  or  denied.  But  in  gen- 
eral we  may  allege,  that  the  greater  the  violations  made 
by  any  sect,  or  denomination,  or  so-called  "  church,"  of 
the  principles  of  a  true  church  polity,  the  greater  has 
probably  also  been  the  presumption  with  which  it  has 
claimed  to  be  the  only  true  Christian  Church.  Hie- 
rarchism  is  a  gross  violation  of  these  principles;  but 
hierarchism  is  most  apt  to  arrogate  to  itself  the  title  of 
"  the  church."  Hierarchism  in  Christian  institutions  is, 
however,  so  bound  down  by  certain  Christian  princi- 
ples, that  it  is  difficult  for  it  completely  to  contravene 
them :  therefore  it  is  not  to  be  concluded  that  even  the 
most  hierarchical  churches  are  not  true  visible  churches 
of  Christ.  They  are  certainly,  however,  not  the  chief 
or  sole  representatives  of  the  true  church  polity. 

In  the  light  of  the  foregoing  remarks  the  next  ques- 
tion admits  of  a  briefer  reply.  May  not  different  sys- 
tems of  church  order,  in  the  various  times  and  circum- 
stances of  history,  equally  well  embody  the  true  ideal  ? 
and  may  not  some  one  system  be  the  nearest  approach 
to  the  ideal  possible  at  one   time,  another   system   at 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

another?  With  the  right  implied  limitations,  both 
parts  of  this  question  may  receive  an  affirmative  an- 
swer. In  church  polity  we  must,  indeed,  distinguish 
between  unchanging  and  essential  principles  and  the 
forms  which  body  them  forth.  One  particular  visible 
church  may,  under  a  given  kind  of  circumstances,  best 
secure  the  practice  corresponding  to  the  principle  of 
regenerate  membership  by  one  form ;  another  church, 
under  differing  circumstances,  by  a  different  form. 
The  principle  that  each  believer  is  a  king  and  priest 
under  Christ — the  principle  of  individual  equality  and 
self-control  — may  be  less  infringed  upon  by  a  board  of 
elders  chosen  b}'  the  church  than  by  the  agent  of  some 
independent  society  sent  from  without  to  the  church. 
The  autonomy  of  the  local  church  may  be  more  com- 
patible with  certain  forms  of  the  Conso.ciation  than  with 
certain  kinds  of  conduct  indulged  in  by  so-called  Con- 
gregational councils.  Indeed,  the  unworthy  and  mis- 
chievous use  of  the  one-man  power  may  become  more 
onerous  in  loosely  organized  churches  called  Congrega- 
tional than  in  other  churches  called  Presbyterian  or 
Episcopal. 

And,  doubtless,  we  must  in  the  matter  of  church 
polity,  as  in  all  matters  of  the  divine  pedagogy,  con- 
sider the  laws  of  historical  development.  We  may 
even  admit  that  the  strong  hand  and  rough  chastening 
of  a  compacted  hierarchical  system  were  needed  to 
conduct  the  Churches  of  the  Middle  Ages  over  their 
rough  and  dangerous  way.  We  may  take  account  of 
the  aptitude  of  certain  forms  of  church  order,  far 
from  ideally  perfect,  to  deal  with  men  who  are  them- 
selves without  respect  for,  and  even  knowledge  of,  the 
ideal ;  just  as  the  grossest  and  most  material  doctrines 
of  future  punishment,  though  false,  have  been  needed 


16  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHTJECH  POLITY. 

to  restrain  men  of  gross  and  material  tendencies  and 
ideas.  But  in  all  these  admissions  we  must  not  with- 
draw our  eyes  from  the  ideal.  It  is  that  toward  which 
we  are  striving;  and  the  striving  is  itself  dependent 
upon  the  clearness  with  which  we  conceive,  and  the 
glow  with  which  we  love,  our  ideal.  Besides  all  this, 
the  success,  for  the  time,  of  that  which  is  imperfect,  is 
not  due  to  its  worst  elements,  but  to  its  better  and  more 
nearly  perfect  ones.  Nor  in  the  one  matter  of  church 
polity  do  we  at  all  believe  the  assumption  that  gross 
violations  of  the  ideal  principles  succeed  best  even  amidst 
the  most  trying  ordeals.  It  will  be  the  purpose  of  one 
part  of  this  Course  of  Lectures  to  show  the  falsity  of 
this  assumption.  These  ideal  principles  are  in  them- 
selves adapted  to  man  as  man ;  and  in  experience  they 
operate  thoroughly  well  with  man  wherever,  and  under 
whatever  conditions,  he  becomes  a  redeemed  man. 
Whatever  trials  and  difficulties  so-called  Congregation- 
alism may  have  experienced,  they  have  not  been  due  to 
its  fidelity  to  the  principles  which  underlie  its  system 
of  church  order.  They  have,  doubtless,  for  the  most 
part,  been  rather  due  to  the  displacement  of  principles, 
and  of  the  consideration  given  to  the  best  forms  of 
embodying  principles,  by  views  of  mere  expediency,  and 
by  consideration  of  w^hat  is  easiest  and  most  immedi- 
ately profitable. 

How  far,  then,  we  ask  in  the  third  place,  are  questions 
of  church  polity  to  be  treated  as  questions  of  expedi- 
ency ?  or,  in  other  words,  how  far  do .  those  principles 
of  church  polity  which  control  as  by  divine  right,  carry 
along  with  them  their  own  limitations  of  form?  To 
answer  this  question  in  every  detail  would  be  to  pro- 
vide rules  and  expedients  which  should  cover  every 
possible  case.     This  kind  of  answer  can  only  be  arrived 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

at  in  the  unending  process  of  experience  itself.  But  in 
general  we  may  say  that  the  iSrst,  and  last,  and  most 
important  thing  of  all,  is  a  firm  grasp  upon,  and  un- 
yielding devotion  to,  the  principles  themselves.  One 
of  these  principles,  however,  —  viz.,  that  which  I  have 
called  "the  common-law  principle,"  —  provides  for  the 
construction  of  practical  rules,  precepts,  and  maxims, 
by  accumulated  experience.  It  is  a  principle  not  to 
depart  from  the  custom  which  is  of  good  experience, 
except  upon  grounds  of  principle  itself;  so  that  in  great 
numbers  of  instances,  where  the  more  abstract  princi- 
ples would  afford  no  very  clear  guidance,  this  common- 
law  principle  bids  us  act  according  to  the  results  of 
aggregated  experience,  and  thus  affords  the  clearest 
guidance. 

We  assume,  then,  in  brief,  that  the  true  Church 
Polity  involves  not  only  those  principles  which  are 
supreme,  and  never  to  be  set  one  side,  but  also  a  cer- 
tain indefinite  and  changing  mass  of  accumulated  pre- 
cepts, customs,  and  maxims,  which  are  of  themselves 
temporarily  within  the  limitations  of  the  higher  prin- 
ciples. These  precepts,  customs,  and  maxims  may  he 
determined  by  considerations  of  expediency ;  but  they 
are  never  to  be  so  determined  in  contravention  of  prin- 
ciple. They  furnish  the  more  minute  lines  of  form 
within  which  the  spirit  moves.  The  spirit  may  move 
without  the  lines  whenever  it  is  expedient  so  to  do :  it 
must  transgress  and  break  them  whenever  it  becomes 
principle  so  to  do.  Unchanging  principle  as  the  spirit, 
but  a  certain  body  of  forms  which  it  may  be  principle 
or  expediency  either  to  break  or  to  keep,  —  such  is  the 
relation  of  spirit  and  form  in  the  true  church  polity. 

But  let  not  the  reader  suppose  that  the  author  has 
held  his  subject  always  in  mid-air.     It  is,  indeed,  the 


18  PEINCIPLES   OP   CHURCH   POLITY. 

actually  existing  institution,  that,  more  effectively  than 
any  theoretical  statement,  illustrates  and  enforces  the 
principles  upon  which  it  is  built.  Principles  which  are 
desierned  to  be  embodied  in  concrete  institutions  are 
peculiarly  subject  to  the  tests  of  experience.  It  would 
be  of  small  avail  to  commend  a  particular  system  of 
church  order  by  a  well-considered  theory,  if  the  prac- 
tical working  of  that  system  were  a  constant  concrete 
proof  of  the  error  or  insufficiency  of  the  theory  itself. 
Concerning  Congregationalism  it  is  often  thought,  and 
not  rarely  alleged,  that,  though  plausible  in  theory,  it 
has  been  much  of  a  failure  in  fact. 

It  is  the  view  constantly  insisted  upon  in  these  Lec- 
tures, that  the  principles  of  the  true  Church  Polity 
must  submit  themselves  to  the  test  of  experience  and 
fact.  A  just  theory  of  constituting  and  governing  "  par- 
ticular visible  churches"  —  to  use  language  familiar  to 
the  student  of  early  Congregational  literature  —  must 
justify  itself  by  being  able  to  constitute  and  control 
such  churches.  Now,  it  is  often  alleged  against  modern 
Congregationalism,  that  it  has  both  failed  to  propagate 
churches  with  commendable  rapidity,  and  also  wisely 
and  efficiently  to  control  the  churches  already  consti- 
tuted under  the  order  which  it  commends.  How  far  true 
is  this  charge  will  be  in  part  shown  in  the  Tenth  Lecture. 
That  the  complaint  of  failure  has  been  greatly  exagger- 
ated, the  author  has  no  doubt ;  that  it  is  in  part  well 
founded,  he  has  just  as  little  doubt.  But  whatever 
failure  must  be  admitted  is  not  to  be  charged  against 
the  principles,  as  though  they  were  too  abstract  and 
ideal  for  their  own  work,  but  rather  against  those 
workmen,  who,  forgetting  the  real  nature  of  these  prin- 
ciples, have  endeavored  to  force  them  into  a  work  to 
which  they  are  not  adapted;   for  the  principles   of  a 


mTRODXJCTION.  19 

true  church  polity  are  not  well  adapted  to  build  up 
a  large  and  thriving  denomination  or  sect.  To  propa- 
gate themselves,  not  simply  in  abstract  form,  but  also 
in  their  concrete  embodiment  in  churches  constituted 
according  to  them,  they  are  well  adapted;  and,  thus 
considered,  Congregationalism  will  multiply  its  mem- 
bers, and  receive  to  itself  the  adherence  of  all  Christian 
men :  thus  considered,  it  has  already  made  wonderful 
conquests  amongst  all  denominations,  systems  of  church 
order,  and  sects. 

To  be  yet  more  definite  in  the  Introduction,  the 
author  must  confess  beforehand  that  he,  too,  has  much 
fault  to  find  with  modern  Congregationalism,  and  cer- 
tain changes  to  propose  for  its  future  enlarged  success. 
This  fault-finding  the  reader  will  discover  where  it 
occurs :  he  will,  the  author  believes,  discover  that  it  is 
somewhat  fairly  and  kindly  and  thoroughly  done.  But 
the  two  changes  for  the  improvement  of  Congregation- 
alism which  in  our  opinion  most  need  to  be  made,  may 
be  mentioned  together  in  the  present  connection. 

The  mismanagements  and  miscarriages  of  modern 
Congregationalism  in  this  country  chiefly  concern  two 
important  factors  in  its  system  of  instituting  and  gov- 
erning the  churches  of  Christ.  Of  these  two,  the  one 
is  the  propagation  of  Congregational  churches :  the 
other  is  the  construction,  as  respects  its  officers,  of  the 
local  church. 

What  should  be  the  method  of  propagating  churches 
both  at  home  and  on  foreign  fields  is  made,  in  part,  the 
subject  of  the  Tenth  and  Eleventh  Lectures.  From  them 
it  will  be  seen  that  the  adherents  of  a  church  polity, 
which  claims  to  be  on  principle  true  and  effective,  have 
no  right  to  refrain  from  propagating  that  polity  every- 
where   that  the  churches  planted  by  them  will  grow. 


20  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY. 

They  do  not,  indeed,  cany  the  gospel  to  men  as  a  sec- 
tarian or  denominational  enterprise ;  but,  as  they  carry 
the  gospel  to  men,  they  take  pains  that  the  fruits  of 
the  gospel  shall  be  garnered  in  local  churches  which 
are  constituted  and  governed  in  the  true  way.  If  any 
do  not  hold  the  princi^^les  of  the  true  church  polity,  and 
have  no  desire  to  see  them  embodied  in  the  form  of  con- 
crete particular  churches,  then  they  can,  at  most,  only 
choose  one  of  two  courses  :  they  can  either  propagate  the 
sect  as  a  sectarian  enterprise,  or  they  can  propagate  Chris- 
tianity with  perfect  indifference  to  the  form  in  which  its 
adherents  unite  as  members  of  the  visible  church.  The 
latter  course  is  the  one  to  which  the  nobler  minds  who 
are  not  settled  in  views  of  church  polity  naturally  in- 
cline. But  local  churches  must  be  constituted  and 
governed  in  some  way ;  and  the  history  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion  shows  that  it  is  by  no  means  a  matter  of 
small  concern  what  is  their  chosen  way.  The  man, 
then,  who  believes  that  questions  concerning  the  con- 
stitution and  government  of  the  churches  of  Christ  are 
in  any  respect  questions  of  principle,  will  desire  to  see 
the  principles  of  his  chosen  church  polity  embodied  in 
the  actual  constitution  and  government  of  all  churches. 

Congregationalists  should,  then,  have  definitely  before 
them,  in  spreading  the  gospel  at  home  and  abroad,  the 
policy  of  gathering  converts  into  self-governing  and 
self-propagating  churches.  This  they  should  do,  not 
with  sectarian  zeal,  or  with  insistance  upon  the  things 
of  minor  importance,  but  with  charity,  confidence,  and 
self-denial. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  author,  the  fact  that  apostolic 
care  and  (if  the  word  be  not  offensive)  authority  are 
needed  in  the  propagation  of  churches  upon  the  newer 
fields,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  neither  destroys  the 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

eflSciency  of  Congregationalism,  nor  changes  any  of  its 
important  forms.  The  right  of  him  who  has  in  Christ's 
name  planted  a  church,  to  watch  over  and  prune  and 
train  that  which  he  has  planted,  is  not  vested  in  Epis- 
copal or  Presbyterian  forms  of  church  government 
alone.  It  is  a  right  which  belongs  to  the  very  nature 
of  the  case  :  it  is  a  right  in  which  every  preacher  of  the 
gospel,  and  founder  of  a  community  of  his  own  converts, 
is  the  equal  of  the  Apostle  Paul.  To  plant  churches, 
on  the  frontier  or  abroad,  with  the  money  and  men  of 
older  Congregational  churches,  and  then  leave  the  new 
communities  to  go  astray,  to  languish  and  fail,  under  a 
semblance  of  ordering  their  own  affairs,  —  this  is  not 
so  much  Congregati(malism  as  it  is  without  sound 
Christian  sense.  The  evangelist  or  the  missionary,  if 
he  go  under  his  own  control,  or  the  evangelizing  local 
church  or  body  of  churches,  if  they  send  forth  the 
messenger  in  responsibility  to  themselves,  have  all 
the  obligation  and  authority  for  firmly  establishing  the 
churches  which  they  plant  that  belonged  to  the  Apostle 
Paul.  Would  that  they  always  had  also  his  inspired 
wisdom  and  affection. 

If,  then,  the  Congregational  Churches  of  the  land 
will  enter  into  the  work  of  propagating  other  self-sus- 
taining and  self-controlling  churches,  as  the  concrete 
manifestations  of  the  principles  both  of  the  Christian 
religion  and  of  a  true  church  polity ;  and  if  such  use 
of  apostolic  authority  and  helpfulness  as  becomes  the 
case  of  churches  planted  in  regions  where  Christian 
institutions  are  new,  be  faithfully  and  judiciously  made  ; 
then  will  Congregationalism  give  no  reason  for  the  com- 
plaint that  it  is  weak  in  united  effort,  and  lacking  in 
power  to  multiply  itself.  And  what  added  impetus  to 
this  possible  thrift  in  growth  might  come  if  its  various. 


22  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY. 

ecclesiastical  gatherings  —  Conventions,  Associations, 
Consociations,  and  National  Council,  —  will  cease  from 
their  vain  contention  over  questions  that  stir  the  spirit 
of  schism,  and  consider  rather  what  plans  may  be 
devised  for  the  better  union  of  our  churches  in  positive 
and  aggressive  work,  he  who  has  much  frequented 
such  gatherings  knows  far  better  than  he  can  be  told. 

And  finally,  in  the  opinion  of  the  author,  the  prin- 
cipal cause  of  those  difficulties  which  are  experienced 
in  the  working  of  modern  Congregational  churches,  as 
at  present  constituted,  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  are  not 
officered  in  the  scriptural  and  reasonable  way. 

In  all  cases  of  difficulty  and  danger,  the  tendency 
of  genuine  Congregationalism  is  to  direct  attention 
toward  the  local  and  individual  church.  There,  in  most 
cases,  will  the  disease  be  found  situated :  there  must 
the  remedy  be  applied.  We  should  not,  then,  expect 
to  free  ourselves  from  rising  embarrassments  by  increas- 
ing the  functions  of  the  clergy,  or  by  a  more  rigid 
organization  of  the  body  of  the  churches,  or  by  ap- 
pointing men  to  rule  over  the  churches  at  large  in  lieu 
of  cardinals  or  bishops.  We  should  rather,  first  of  all, 
inquire  into  the  conditions  which  shape  the  existence, 
and  limit  the  activities,  of  the  local  church.  Most 
of  the  practical  difficulties  in  the  working  of  modern 
Congregational  churches  in  this  country  will  —  I  repeat 
—  be  found  due  to  a  wrong  construction,  as  respects 
its  officers,  of  the  local  church. 

It  is  the  Congregational  doctrine,  that  the  covenant, 
or  solemn  compact  of  believers  to  live  together  as 
Christians  in  a  church  way,  with  so  much,  indeed,  of 
confession  of  faith  as  is  necessary  to  entering  into  the 
covenant,  is  that  which  "  essentiates "  the  form  of  a 
.church.      Any  number  of  Christians,  then,  who  thus 


INTEODUCTION.  28 

covenant  together  are  essentially  a  Christian  church. 
But  they  are  not  a  completely  organized  church  until 
they  have  officers ;  and  they  will  not  be  likely  to  be 
effective  as  a  church,  unless  they  have  habitually  the 
right  classes  of  efficient  officers.  A  church  without 
officers  is  not  a  completely  organized  church :  it  is  a 
lame  and  ineffective  institution,  if,  indeed,  it  can  be 
dignified  with  the  name  of  an  institution. 

The  classes  of  officers  in  the  local  church  which  are 
known  to  the  Congregational  polity  are  two,  —  the  dea- 
con, and  the  elder  or  presbyter-bishop.  The  number  and 
nature  of  these  offices  is  not  a  matter  of  indifference :  it 
is  not  a  matter  of  small  consequence  whether  any  par- 
ticular church -be  lacking  in  one  or  both.  The  elder 
may,  indeed,  act  as  a  deacon  ;  or  the  deacon  may  take 
upon  himself  the  functions  of  the  presbyter-bishop ; 
but  the  two  functions  are  two,  not  one,  and  both  classes 
of  offices  should  be  kept  constantly  filled.  Otherwise 
the  church '  becomes  at  once  an  imperfectly  organized 
church. 

Moreover,  the  example  of  the  New-Testament 
churches  coincides  with  the  reason  of  the  case  and  with 
the  conclusions  of  experience,  in  recommending  that 
there  be  constituted  within  every  local  church  a  hoards 
or  body  of  elders,  who  shall  be  chosen  by  the  church, 
ordained  to  their  office,  and  held  as  officers  responsible 
for  the  discharge  of  the  trusts  committed  to  them.  In 
other  words,  a  well-organized  church  has  several  officers 
who  are  chosen  by  the  church  from  its  own  membership, 
to  lead,  and,  within  certain  restrictions,  to  act  for  the 
church  in  the  management  of  its  affairs.  Such  officers 
are,  and  should  be  called,  the  elders  or  presbyter-bishops 
of  the  local  church.  Nor  is  it  a  matter  of  indifference 
whether  there  be  only  one,  or  more  than  one,  in  this 


24  PBINCIPLES   OF   CHUKCH   POLITY. 

office  for  each  local  church ;  whether,  again,  he  who 
exercises  the  functions  of  the  office  be  a  member,  or 
not,  of  the  church  over  which  he  acts  as  officer. 
That  he  who  is  de  facto  presbyter-bishop  of  the  local 
church  should  not  be  a  member  of  that  church,  is  con- 
trary to  an  important  principle  of  the  true  church 
polity ;  but  that  any  one  man  should  habitually  be  the 
only  presbyter-bishop  of  a  local  church,  is  the  very 
germ  and  essence  of  monarchical  church  government. 
In  the  New-Testament  churches  the  elders  appear 
everywhere  as  in  the  plural,  as  a  college,  or  senate,  or 
corporate  body ;  but  they  are  also  everywhere  made 
known  to  us  as  constituted  a  college  or  senate  by  the 
incorporating  choice  of  the  church  itself.* 

The  practice  of  modern  Congregationalism  in  this 
country  has  widely  departed  from  this  example.  Its 
theory  has  followed  its  practice,  as  though  to  support 
and  justify  the  departure  ;  but  the  theory  is  as  vicious 
as  the  practice  has  proved  injurious.  Some  of  the  ear- 
lier Congregational  churches  endeavored  to  provide  for 
the  functions  of  the  presbyter-bishops  by  placing  two 
persons  in  this  office,  —  the  pastor  or  teacher,  and  the 
elder,  or  the  ruling  and  teaching  elder  ;  but  they  some- 
what arbitrarily  distinguished  the  duties  and  powers  of 
the  two.  As  early  as  Owen,  we  find  certain  persons 
beginning  "  to  maintain  that  there  is  no  need  of  but 
one  pastor,  bishop,  or  elder ;  "  and  Cotton  Mather  tells 
us  that  the  ruling  elders  were  almost  extinct  in  his  day. 
But  the  practice  of  Congregational  churches  has  not 
been  content  to  rest  at  the  reduction  of  the  number  of 
presbyter-bishops  to  one :  it  has,  in  the  great  majority, 
ceased  to  require,  as  an  essential  of  an  organized  local 
church,  even  that  one.  It  has  thus  come  about  that 
large  numbers  of  our  churches  never  have   any  pres- 


INTEODITCTION.  25 

byter-bishop,  except  as  the  office  is  sporadically  and 
temporarily  exercised  by  one  who  is  neither  ordained  to 
it,  nor  even  a  member  of  the  local  church  which  he 
serves ;  and,  in  the  constantly  recurring  event  of  their 
being  left  without  even  this  semblance  of  such  an  offi- 
cer, they  have,  as  churches,  no  acknowledged  Christian 
leadership  or  organized  activity.  It  is  true  that  the 
Deacons  and  the  Committee  are,  in  part,  the  substitutes 
for  the  College  of  Presbyter-bishops.  So  far,  however, 
as  these  men  serve  as  substitutes,  they  would  much 
better  serve  as  recognized  and  ordained  officers  of  the 
church :  so  far  as  they  are  incapable  of  the  functions  of 
this  college,  they  are  not  substitutes  for  it.  This  prac- 
tice, moreover,  we  have  tried  to  support  by  an  impo- 
tent theory  of  church  government,  constructed  neither 
from  pure  principles  nor  in  accord  with  the  best  expe- 
rience. We  have  tried  to  make  theoretically  valid  the 
proposition  that  one  clergyman,  peripatetic,  and  irre- 
sponsible to  the  church  of  which  he  is  not  a  member, 
can  become  a  substitute  for  a  whole  college  of  duly 
chosen  and  ordained  elders  of  the  local  church.  Thus 
have  practice  and  theory  combined  to  incapacitate  many 
of  our  churches  in  their  best  estate  from  acting  as  fully 
organized  and  officered,  while  in  their  worst  estate  they 
are  left  in  pitiful  condition  indeed. 

What  are  the  true  views,  and  what  should  be  the 
practice  of  the  churches,  —  as  these  matters  appear  to 
the  author, — is  partially  disclosed  in  several  Lectures 
of  the  Course.  Not  for  the  sake  of  making  invidious 
distinctions  are  these  views  expressed,  but  because 
there  is  at  this  time  no  other  so  alarming  feature  in  the 
operation  of  the  Congregational  polity  as  this  one, — 
that  the  office  of  the  genuine  preshyter-bishop  is  fast  be- 
coming extinct.     It  follows  that  our  churches  are  fast 


26  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY. 

becommg  unorganized  and  imperfect  Christian  churches. 
And  again  there  follows  this  fact  a  train  of  most  mis- 
chievous practical  results.  That  this  wrong  practice 
will  be  corrected  by  increased  rigor  of  ecclesiasticism 
is  a  delusive  hope.  To  make  a  more  compacted  and 
controllable  order  of  the  clergy  will  not  furnish  the 
churches  with  presbyter-bishcps  who  are  selected  from 
their  own  membership,  and  solemnly  ordained  as  to  a 
sacred  trust.  The  remedy  must,  then,  be  applied  where 
the  disease  exists.  The  local  churches  must  return  to 
the  right  and  New-Testament  way  of  constituting  and 
governing  themselves. 

"  Furnish  yourselves  with  [Ruling]  Elders  :  "  this,  in 
the  words  of  an  ancient  cry,  is  the  most  important 
advice  which  can  at  present  be  given  to  our  churches. 
Every  local  church  should  have  continuously  in  office 
the  two  classes  of  officers  who  are  needed  in  order  that 
the  church  may  be  fully  organized.  Without  them,  the 
organization  may  be  a  church ;  but  it  is  an  imperfect 
and  a  relatively  impotent  church.  A  number  of  its  own 
members,  judged  fit  both  of  the  Lord  and  of  men  for 
this  responsibility,  should  be  selected  by  the  church 
for  its  leadership.  And  even  if  the  office  is  to  be  held 
for  a  fixed  term  of  years,  —  which  is  without  doubt, 
under  existing  circumstances,  usually  the  best  custom, 
—  these  selected  officers  should  by  prayer  and  consecra- 
tion be  set  apart  for  their  work.  The  presbyter-bishops 
should  be  men  of  age,  experience,  fit  for  teaching  and 
leading  in  the  church.  And,  when  the  so-called  pastor 
comes  from  without,  he  should  enter  into  this  college 
of  presbyter-bishops  as  primus  inter  pares ;  first  only 
because  he  has  received  the  special  training  needed  to 
make  him  more  apt  than  others  to  teach,  hv^t  first  among 
equals  hecQM&Q  he  is  associated  with,  the  entire  college 


rNTKODUCTION.  27 

of  elders  in  the  teaching,  discipline,  and  leadership  of 
the  church.  Both  he  and  they  are,  of  course,  con- 
stantly responsible  to  the  entire  church,  by  whose 
choice,  and  in  whose  interests,  they  have  been  ap- 
pointed. 

Besides  these  presbyter-bishops,  the  local  church  con- 
gregationally  constituted  has  only  one  other  class  of 
officers :  these  are  the  deacons,  who  should  ordinarily 
be  younger  men,  chosen  to  act  especially  as  the  minib- 
ters  of  the  church  in  its  care  of  the  sick,  unfortunate, 
and  poor. 

Of  the  objections  which  might  be  urged  against  the 
acceptance  of  this  ancient  word  of  advice,  we  are  by  no 
means  ignorant.  So  far  as  the  essential  part  of  these 
objections  is  made  against  an  obnoxious  name  (elders), 
or  lies  in  the  direction  of  a  charge  of  presbyterianizing, 
we  do  not  tliink  them  worthy  of  a  specific  reply.  A 
word  with  respect  to  one  objection  placed  upon  grounds 
of  practical  difficulty  must  now  suffice.  It  will  be  truly 
said,  that  great  numbers  of  our  churches  have  not  the 
material  out  of  which  several  presbyter-bishops  may  be 
made.  And  each  local  church  must,  indeed,  submit  to 
the  limitations  which  are  imposed  upon  its  organization 
by  circumstances  bej'ond  its  control.  The  number  of 
its  members  may  be  unavoidably  few,  their  quality 
may  be  relatively  poor ;  but  in  general,  until  it  has 
material  sufficient  and  suitable  for  its  proper  organiza- 
tion, it  should  refrain  from  organizing,  and  devote  itself 
purely  to  evangelistic  work.  If  it  has  been  organized 
under  more  favorable  previous  circumstances,  and  has 
come  to  a  low  estate  by  incurring  circumstances  ad- 
verse, it  may  be  best  to  abandon  the  effort  to  sustain 
itself  as  an  independent  particular  church.  Any  body 
of  Christians*  on  becoming  —  whether  from   youth,  or 


28  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY. 

tlie  decay  of  age,  or  disease  —  too  feeble  to  maintain 
itself  at  all  in  condition  of  organization,  should  be 
taken  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  communion  of 
churches.  But,  when  it  is  really  too  small  and  weak  to 
supply  itself  with  officers,  it  usually  should  relinquish 
its  attempt,  for  the  present,  to  be  a  particular  visible 
church.  If,  however,  due  help  is  rendered,  under  the 
principle  of  the  communion  of  churches,  the  extreme 
necessity  will  much  more  rarely  arrive  ;  and,  besides 
all  this,  we  are  to  think  better  and  more  hopefully  of 
the  so-called  feeble  churches.  The  actual  practice  of 
the  office  fits  the  incumbent  for  his  office ;  and  many 
men  of  crude  understanding,  small  experience,  and 
little  courage,  under  exigencies  develop  into  royal 
leaders  of  a  Christian  church. 

The  advantages  of  a  collective  eldership  may  be 
assumed  to  be,  under  our  present  somewhat  trying 
circumstances,  especially  great.  Some  of  these  advan- 
tages have  been  only  hinted  at  in  this  Course  of  Lec- 
tures; others,  more  fully  discussed.  The  training  of 
the  individual  Christian  in  leadership  and  of  the  entire 
church  in  self-discipline  and  united  action  ;  the  bringing 
to  bear,  upon  cases  of  difficulty  and  urgency,  of  the  best 
judgment  and  largest  charity  of  the  church;  the  con- 
tinuous leadership,  under  responsible  persons,  of  the 
action  of  the  entire  community,  as  distinguished  from 
successive  periods  of  untried  leadership  under  a  new 
pastor,  and  no  leadership  when  the  pastor  departs ;  the 
increased  safeguard  against  unsound  and  impure  minis- 
ters, if  the  established  eldership  of  the  church  is  made 
interested  in  and  responsible  for  the  person  whom  it 
receives  to  its  membership  whenever  the  church  calls 
him  to  its  pastorate ;  the  possibility  of  a  more  compact 
and   tangible   place  at  which   the    communion  of  the 


ESTTEODTJCTION.  29 

churches  may  lay  hold  of  the  local  church ;  the  comfort 
and  help  and  added  strength  which  the  rightly-judging 
pastor  derives  from  being  associated  in  office  with 
brethren  whom  he  may  especially  trust,  and  upon  whom 
he  may  safely  rely ;  the  increase  of  power  in  edifying 
and  evangelizing,  which  might  come  through  the  more 
multiform  expression  of  the  Christian  interest  of  the 
church  in  its  own  membership,  and  in  the  community 
at  large,  —  these  and  yet  other  benefits  to  be  derived 
from  a  right  constitution  of  the  local  church  will  occur 
to  every  reader. 

Let,  then,  every  Congregational  church  be  furnished 
with  a  College  of  Presbyter-bishops  in  order  that  it 
may  be  a  completely-organized  and  efficient  Christian 
church.  Inasmuch  as  it  would  be  a  body  corporate, 
furnished  for  independent  activities,  and  organized  for 
self-control,  let  it  have  the  means  and  instrumentalities 
of  such  activities  and  self-control. 

And  when,  to  the  power  of  its  principles,  the  true 
Church  Polity  adds  that  power  which  comes  from  a  wise 
and  effective  manifestation  of  those  principles,  especially 
in  its  method  of  propagating  churches  and  of  constitut- 
ing the  local  church,  then  neither  its  advocates  nor  its 
opponents  will  have  reason  to  complain  of  its  slow 
progress,  weakness  in  things  practical,  or  inapplicability 
as  a  theory  to  all  the  sterner  conditions  of  the  Christian 
life. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  CHURCH  POLITY. 


LECTURE   I. 

THE  PRINCIPLES   OF   CONGREGATIONALISM. 

The  scarcity  of  works  which  have  aimed  to  treat 
Congregationalism  in  a  thoroughly  philosophical  way, 
whether  from  the  psychological  point  of  view,  or  from 
that  furnished  by  pragmatic  history,  is  indeed  remarka- 
ble. The  spirit  of  the  earlier  treatises  upon  this  subject 
—  of  those,  that  is,  which  were  produced  from  the 
middle  period  of  the  seventeenth  to  the  same  period 
in  the  eighteenth  century  —  is  eminently  philosophical. 
The  writers  of  these  treatises  clearly  recognized  the 
great  truth,  that  the  idea  of  the  church  which  they 
strove  to  realize  is  both  scriptural  and  rational.  How 
broad  and  profound  are  the  normal  principles,  and  how 
lofty,  manly,  and  free  the  formative  spirit,  of  our  polity, 
no  one  can  duly  estimate  who  is  not  familiar  with  such 
writers.  We  may  say  of  them,  what  one  of  them  says 
of  the  order  of  their  churches,  —  they  "somewhat  more 
than  sip,"  they  take  "  an  honest,  healthful  draught,  at 
nature's  fountains." 

These  men  could  not,  however,  treat  pragmatically 
the  very  history  which  they  were  engaged  in  making. 
The  push  of  the  motives  before  which  they  took  anew 

31 


32  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  by  force  was  too  persistent  and 
mighty  to  admit  of  their  analyzing  these  motives.  In 
more  recent  times  there  have  been  produced  a  sufficient 
number  of  books  which  have  given  with  fidelity  and  in 
detail  the  history  of  the  New-England  churches.  Their 
genesis  on  foreign  soil,  in  England  and  in  Holland, 
their  planting  and  unfolding  on  our  own  soil,  have  been 
carefully  traced.  Nor  are  we  wanting  in  Manuals 
which  bravely  attempt,  both  for  the  benefit  of  the 
present  and  of  the  future,  to  deduce  rules  for  the  appli- 
cation of  the  principles  of  our  church  polity  to  the 
minutest  occurrences  of  church  life.  Obsolete  or  obso- 
lescent rules  cannot,  however,  exhibit  or  enforce  living 
principles.  Crystals  when  already  formed  are  useful 
for  the  cabinet ;  but  the  divine  law  and  the  divine  force 
in  crystallization  are  best  apprehended  and  felt  by 
study  of  the  formative  process.  Neander  tells  us  ^  that 
he  solicited  his  "  young  friend  "  Uhden  to  give  the  de- 
tails of  the  revivals  of  religion  in  North  America,  "  both 
in  a  psychological  view  and  in  their  relation  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  Christian  life."  It  has  thus  come  about  that 
the  first  attempt  at  a  philosophical  history  of  our  polity 
was  born  abroad :  it  sprung  from  the  heart  of  a  great 
German,  and  from  the  pen  of  his  pupil,  and  was  at  birth 
swathed  in  a  foreign  language.  The  greatest  and  truly 
complete  history  of  this  polity  still  awaits  a  worthy  par- 
entage. May  its  birth  be  in  the  ancestral  home,  and 
its  form  have  the  familiar  characteristics  of  its  revered 
ancestors ! 

The  successful  study  of  Congregationalism,  and,  in- 
deed, of  every  form   of   church   polity,  —  whether  for 
purposes  of  private  knowledge  or  of  public  information ; 
whether  in   the   form    of  preparing  brief  essays  upon 
1  The  New-England  Theocracy,  Preface,  p.  vii,  f. 


LECT.  I.]  THE  METHOD   OF   INQUIRY.  33 

special  topics,  or  general  surveys  in  courses  of  lectures, 
or  the  more  elaborate  production  of  the  printed  volume, 
—  can  pursue  only  one  method.  This  method  must 
be  that  which  has  been  significantly  but  barbarously 
termed  "the  historico-genetic."  The  method,  as  the 
very  name  implies,  is  one  especially  adapted  to  a  his- 
toric growth.  All  historic  growths,  when  treated  in  a 
manner  corresponding  to  their  nature,  are  treated  by 
the  historico-genetic  method :  they  are  treated,  that 
is,  as  growths  in  history.  The  settled  conviction  of 
modern  thought  and  scholarship  has  come  to  be,  that 
matters  of  this  kind  can  only  be  understood  when  their 
process  of  development  has  been  traced,  its  connections 
pointed  out,  and  its  princii^les  analyzed.  The  process 
of  development  must  be  traced  backward  to  the  ger- 
minal ideas  from  which  it  sprung :  it  must  also  be 
traced  forward  from  those  ideas,  along  their  various 
lines  of  movement,  to  the  products  in  institutions,  laws, 
and  habits  resulting  from  them.  The  connections  of 
this  process  must  be  pointed  out  in  order  that  its 
causes,  its  position,  its  meaning  in  the  world-wide  move- 
ments of  history,  may  be  indicated.  Its  principles  must 
be  analyzed  in  order  that  reason  may  be  satisfied,  in 
order  that  the  enduring,  because  true,  elements  may 
be  distinguished  from  those  which  will  perish,  either 
because  they  are  essentially  temporary  or  essentially 
false.  In  every  inquiry,  however,  which  concerns  the 
Christian  church,  the  Christian  student  who  inquires 
according  to  the  pattern  of  this  method  will  obtain  his 
answer  in  some  form  of  the  Shechinah.  He  will  find  the 
presence  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  manifested  everywhere. 
Tiie  ideas  and  principles  which  are  traced  in  their  de- 
velopment will  appear  to  originate  from  the  mind  and 
heart  of  God:  the  connections  which  can  be  pointed 
out  will  be  ascribed  to  the  holy  divine  will. 


34  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

The  most  superficial  acquaintance  with  the  theme  of 
this  Lectureship  —  a  theme  which  gets  itself  recognized, 
if  not  expressed,  under  the  happy  general  term  of  Con- 
gregationalism —  must  convince  us  that  it  especially 
demands  the  above-mentioned  form  of  treatment;  for 
New-England  Congregationalism  is,  without  doubt,  a 
divine  historic  growth.  Essentially  considered,  it  is 
not  merely  a  definite  system  of  church  government ;  it 
is  not  a  creed;  it  is  not  a  mere  combination  of  both 
system  and  creed.  Its  laws,  therefore,  cannot  be  un- 
failingly determined  from  any  book  of  discipline,  or 
platform,  or  manual.  It  must  be  known  in  its  germi- 
nal ideas,  its  vital  principles,  its  broad  and  deep  connec- 
tions, its  lofty  and  quickening  spirit,  if  it  is  satisfacto- 
rily known  at  all. 

Two  prevalent  questions  concerning  Congregational- 
ism make  apparent  the  pre-eminent  need  which  this 
theme  has  of  receiving  treatment  by  application  of  the 
historico-genetic  method.  These  two  questions  are  apt 
to  prove  as  disagreeable  and  startling  as  they  are  prev- 
alent. The  first  of  them  is  the  very  natural  inquiry. 
What  is  Congregationalism  ?  By  its  enemies  this  ques- 
tion is  commonly  asked  with  the  wicked  air  of  one 
maliciously  perplexing  his  brother  Clu-istian ;  by  its 
friends,  with  the  amusing  air  of  one  hopelessly  per- 
plexed. And,  after  all,  what  really  is  Congregational- 
ism? Thomas  Hughes  tells  us  of  a  gentleman  who 
became  deeply  interested  in  the  study  of  the  English 
public  schools.  But,  after  much  visitation  and  inquiry, 
this  gentleman  was  still  asking  the  question,  "What, 
then,  after  all,  is  an  English  public  school  ?  "  The  ar- 
ticles of  Mr.  Hughes  in  "  The  Contemporary  Review, 
although  written  in  answer  to  the  same  question,  leave 
the  reader  still  in  doubt.     And  so  is  our  experience 


LECT.  I.]  THE   IIETHOD   OF   INQUIRY.  35 

likely  to  be  with  the  definition  of  Congregationalism. 
If  one  is  seeking  a  concrete  and  readily  comprehensi- 
ble answer  to  the  question  what  it  is,  one  will  find 
only  a  partial  and  an  unsatisfactory  answer.  The  satis- 
factory answer  to  the  question,  I  aver  again,  can  come 
only  in  an  intelligent  recognition  of  the  germinal  ideas 
and  fundamental  principles  of  this  great  movement  in 
modern  history.  Congregationalism  is  not  to  be  de- 
fined as  the  system  of  doctrines  which  John  Calvin 
promulgated,  or  the  system  of  church  government  insti- 
tuted by  John  Robinson ;  neither  is  it  a  mere  fusion  or 
blending  of  the  two. 

Another  equally  prevalent  and  disagreeable  question, 
which  needs  for  its  answer  the  application  of  the  above 
method,  may  be  proposed  in  the  following  form :  What 
will  Congregationalism  turn  out  to  be  ?  What  may  we 
hope  to  make  by  development  of  our  polity?  What 
must  we  fear  from  steps  in  the  development  which  we 
cannot  control  ?  How  much,  and  in  what  respects,  may 
we  change  the  form  ?  Is  this  or  that  particular  change 
consistent  with  the  principles  of  a  true  church  polity, 
or  not?  is  it  of  the  nature  of  a  legitimate  outgrowth 
from  those  principles,  or  of  an  excrescence,  which,  if 
it  become  also  an  accretion,  will  endanger  the  very  life 
of  the  principles  themselves  ?  The  right  answer  to  this 
second  question,  in  whatever  form  of  the  above  series 
proposed,  can  be  reached  only  by  the  right  method  of 
research.  A  survey  of  the  germinal  ideas  and  organ- 
ific  principles  of  tliis  historic  growth,  and  the  study  of 
the  process  of  their  unfolding,  will  alone  show  us  what 
changes  are  permissible,  what  not,  what  elements  are 
accidental,  and  what  necessary.  Without  a  knowledge 
of  these  principles  thus  gained,  we  run  a  twofold  risk, 
—  we  may  let  our  church  order  languish  by  refusing  to 


36  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

cultivate  its  legitimate  growth,  or  we  may  cut  off  its 
very  roots  in  our  ardor  for  cultivating  it. 

It  will  be,  then,  the  purpose  of  this  Course  of  Lec- 
tures to  contribute  somewhat  to  the  treatment  of  its 
theme  after  the  true  method.  This  contribution  can 
be  only  a  very  insignificant  one.  Let  it,  however,  be 
in  genuine  coin,  although  the  sum  here  gathered  from 
the  treasuries  of  the  Scriptures,  history,  and  the  human 
soul,  aggregate  only  a  small  amount. 

Our  plan  will  lead  us  briefly  to  analyze  the  true 
Church  Polity,  especially  as  it  is  illustrated  in  the  his- 
tory of  modern  Congregationalism,  into  its  constituent 
principles,  and  afterward  to  apply  these  principles  to 
certain  questions  which  are  likely  to  become  burning 
questions  of  the  future,  even  if  they  are  not  under  a 
smouldering  fire  at  the  present  day.  The  application 
shall  be  made  in  three  main  divisions,  according  as  the 
principles  stand  related :  first,  to  our  common  man- 
hood ;  second,  to  our  common  faith ;  third,  to  the 
growth  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  The  method 
which  will  be  steadfastly  followed  has  already  been 
sufficiently  defined.  Should  it  in  the  lecture-room 
appear  at  times  to  degenerate  into  the  merely  dogmatic 
or  speculative  method,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the 
appearance  is  to  some  extent  a  necessity  of  the  place. 
The  method  in  the  study  of  the  lecturer  has  never 
been  dogmatic  or  speculative :  it  has  been  the  method 
of  analysis  applied  to  an  organic  and  still  vital  product 
in  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church. 

The  historico-genetic  study  of  Congregationalism 
enables  us  to  distinguish  two  primary  and  fundamental 
principles  which  have  given  character  to  its  germina- 
tion and  to  all  its  growth.  It  also  enables  us  to  dis- 
tinguish  the   various    combinations   which    these    two 


LECT.  I.]  THE   PRIMARY   PRINCIPLES.  37 

primary  principles  have  made,  and  which  have  shaped 
in  modern  history  the  constitution,  doctrine,  worship, 
and  discipline  of  Christian  churches.  Of  such  combi- 
nations of  the  primary  principles  we  can  distinguish  at 
least  seven,  and  to  them  we  will  give  the  name  of  sec- 
ondaiy  or  derived  principles.  The  name  must  not  be 
understood  as  signifying  that  any  of  these  so-called 
secondary  principles  are  unessential  to  the  complete 
idea  and  correct  practice  of  a  true  church  polity:  on 
the  contrary,  they  are  all  essential  to  both  idea  and 
practice.  They  are  called  secondary  principles  be- 
cause they  may  be  seen  to  have  their  existence  and  out- 
growth from  the  two  primary  truths. 

Of  these  primary  principles  one  may  be  called  the 
formal,  the  other  the  material,  principle  of  Congrega- 
tionalism. The  formal  principle  is  called  such  because 
it  has  always  been  recognized  as  the  divine  truth, 
which,  being  consciously  held  as  distinctive  by  Congre- 
gationalists,  has  actually  given  the  form  to  their  pecu- 
liar church  life.  The  formal  principle  of  any  historic 
growth  is  that  which  contains  the  norm  of  that  growth, 
and  which  therefore  gives  to  the  growth  the  special 
characteristics  that  it  unfolds.  The  material  principle, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  the  one  truth  which  best  ex- 
presses the  sum  total  of  those  special  characteristics. 
It  describes  the  substance  of  the  truth  which  has  been 
reached  under  the  impulse  and  guidance  of  the  formal 
principle.  If,  then,  we  can  discover  that  great  truth 
upon  which  those  who  have  given  form  to  our  order 
have  had  their  eyes  steadfastly  fixed  as  they  have 
shaped  this  order,  we  shall  know  the  formal  principle 
of  Congregationalism.  What  principle,  consciously  ac- 
cepted, gave  to  their  promulgators  the  laws  which  they 
accepted   and   advocated?     What   truth   from   heaven 


38  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

entered  their  minds,  so  that,  recognizing  it  as  formative 
truth,  they  wrought  designedly  after  its  pattern  in 
shaping  all  the  truths  of  church  polity  which  are 
embodied  in  our  church  order  ? 

The  answer  to  these  questions  is  not  at  all  obscure 
or  difficult.  We  state  the  formal  principle  of  Congre- 
gationalism in  the  following  terms :  The  word  of  God  in 
the  Scriptures  is  designed  to  furnish^  and  actually  does 
furnish,  the  sole  objective  authority,  not  only  for  the  doc- 
trines, but  also  for  the  constitution,  worship,  and  disci- 
pline, of  the  Christian  Church. 

But  the  question  at  once  occurs.  Was  not  this  the 
avowed  principle  of  the  Reformation  under  Luther  ?  and 
does  it  not  belong  alike  to  all  Protestant  churches? 
How,  then,  can  it  be  called  the  distinctive  formal  prin- 
ciple of  Congregationalism?  It  seems,  indeed,  both 
surprising  and  amusing  to  find  how  fond  the  orthodox 
Lutheran  theologians  have  been  of  claiming  that  the 
consistent  tenure  of  this  principle  has  since  the  Refor- 
mation belonged  to  Lutheranism  alone.  "  What  in  all 
places  moved  and  impelled  a  Luther,"  says  Guerike,^ 
"  what  grounded  the  Reformation,  and  defined  it  in  its 
course,  what  stands  at  the  head  of  its  confessions,  and 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  its  discussions,  is  the  word 
of  God,  and  nothing  but  that;  and  the  word  of  God, 
the  word  of  God  alone,  appears  clearly  as  the  formal 
doctrinal  principle  of  the  Lutheran  Church."  In  what 
respects  this  principle  is  distinctive  of  Congregational- 
ism, and,  more  definitely,  what,  so  far  as  distinctive,  this 
principle  is,  we  shall  consider  in  another  Lecture.  For 
indicating  the  nature  of  the  grounds  upon  which  we 
claim  the  full  and  consistent  avowal  and  application  of 

1  See  Zeitschrift  fur  Lutherisclie  Theologie  und  Kirche,  1840,  erstes 
quartelheft,  p.  61. 


LKCT.  I.]  THE   FOEMAIi   PRINCIPLE.  39 

this  great  principle  as  peculiar  to  our  church  order,  the 
feAV  following  remarks  will  sufi&ce. 

The  Reformation  under  Luther  did,  indeed,  avow  the 
larger  and  more  important  half  of  this  great  formal 
principle;  but. the  lesser  half  of  the  principle  no  other 
churches  than  the  Congregational  have  clearly  avowed. 
And  no  other  churches  have  made  a  consistent  attempt 
fairly  and  thoroughly  to  carry  out  the  entire  principle. 
For  let  it  be  considered  that  the  principle  has  reference 
not  only  to  doctrine,  but  also  to  the  constitution,  wor- 
ship, and  discipline  of  the  Christian  Church.  This  latter 
half  of  the  reference  many  other  forms  of  church  order 
somehow  manage  to  escape.  Some  of  these  forms  make 
their  escape  by  such  ill  logic,  such  twisting  of  exegesis, 
and  juggling  with  history,  as  leads  them  to  the  strong- 
hold of  a  divinely  ordered  hierarchical  system.  They 
conclude  that  Christ's  spirit  in  the  New  Testament,  in 
the  apostolic  constitution,  and  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  commands,  or  at  least  authoritatively  com- 
mends, their  peculiar  form  of  the  hierarchy.  Others 
escape  by  indifference  and  good  nature  to  the  smooth 
but  barren  fields  of  expediency.  They  conclude  that 
the  Scriptures  do  not  furnish  us,  either  in  their  state- 
ment of  principles,  or  in  the  facts  of  their  history,  any 
obligatory  form  of  constituting  and  managing  Christ's 
churches.  If  a  certain  form  works  well,  gives  numbers, 
Sclat,  success,  this  is  its  sufficient  authority  and  rec- 
ommendation for  use.  But  a  true  and  well-principled 
church  polity  begins  with  the  avowed  belief,  that,  in 
gifts  of  principles  and  facts  of  early  history,  the  spirit 
of  Christ  in  the  Scriptures  has  described,  within  certain 
limits,  the  true  constitution,  worship,  and  discipline  of 
his  churches.  Moreover,  most  other  forms  of  church 
order  have  actually  failed  consistently  to  carry  out  even 


40  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

SO  much  of  this  principle  as  they  have  avowed.  Their 
very  manner  of  constitution  and  control  does  not  per- 
mit a  free  and  open  appeal  to  the  Word  of  God  alone,  as 
giving  authoritatively  even  its  doctrines  to  the  Chris- 
tian Church.  The  Reformation  of  Lutl\er  carried  the 
principle  half  way,  then  stuck,  and  then  retreated  from 
its  most  advanced  position.  The  Christian  men  in 
England  to  whose  researches  in  the  New  Testament, 
and  to  whose  sufferings  in  behalf  of  its  truth,  our 
church  order  is  due,  did  not  stick  at  carrying  the  prin- 
ciple straight  through  both  the  doctrine  and  the  polity 
of  the  Church. 

No  one  who  reads  history  aright  can  doubt  that  early 
Congregationalism  in  England  and  in  this  country 
began  and  continued  as  an  appeal  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment for  light  upon  the  right  form  of  church  life. 
Luther  had  said,  I  bring  all  alleged  doctrine  to  this 
light,  and  I  find  that  justification  by  faith  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  great  truth  from  which  the  Church 
has  departed,  and  which  I  must  again  avow.  "  Here 
I  stand  :  I  can  do  no  otherwise.  God  help  me.  Amen."^ 
Our  fathers  said,  "  We,  too,  bring,  not  only  all  alleged 
right  doctrine,  but  all  constituted  forms  of  church  life 
and  practice,  to  the  same  light.  We  find  that  the 
Scriptures  teach  this.  A  true  Christian  church  is  a  com- 
pany of  true  believers,  bound  together  by  a  covenant, 
under  the  leadership  of  Jesus  Christ,  constituted  for 
self-control,  and  obligated  by  the  law  of  love  to  com- 
mune as  much  as  they  have  power  with  all  who  are 
Christ's.  This,  too,  is  a  great  truth  from  which  the 
Church  has  departed,  and  which  we  must  avow.  Here 
we  stand.     God  help  us.     We  can  do  no  otherwise." 

1  So  tradition  and  the  monument  at  Worms  have  the  words;  but  for 
a  curious  discussion  of  their  authenticity,  see  an  article  in  Studien  and 
Kritilien,  1869. 


LECT.  I.]  THE  FORMAL   PRUSTCIPLE.  41 

To  quote  express  declarations  of  this  formal  principle 
of  our  churcli  order  is  not  necessary  to  prove  it  true, 
or  distinctive  of  this  order.  The  view  just  presented 
scarcely  has  any  fairly  disputable  features ;  but  those 
features  will,  as  I  have  already  said,  be  more  minutely 
described  at  another  time.  Those  who  rediscovered  the 
true  church  polity  after  it  had  lain  quite  buried  under 
a  great  load  of  ritualism  and  ecclesiasticism  assert  that 
their  own  sole  chart  and  guide-book  is  the  New  Testa- 
ment. "  The  sole  measure  of  evangelical  truth,"  says 
John  Owen,^  "is  His  word  of  whom  it  is  said,  '0  Xoyog  6 
Gog  dXriOsid  taziv."  The  same  author  entitled  one  of  his 
treatises,  "  The  Word  of  God  the  sole  rule  of  worship." 
"  We  give  ourselves  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  to 
the  word  of  his  grace  for  the  teaching,  ruling,  and  sanc- 
tifying us  in  matters  of  worship  and  conversation ; " 
"  We  bind  ourselves,  in  the  presence  of  God,  to  walk 
together  in  all  his  ways,  according  as  he  is  pleased  to 
reveal  himself  unto  us  in  his  blessed  word  of  truth,"  — 
such  are  the  avowals  which  Higginson  introduced  into 
the  covenant  of  the  Salem  church,  modelling  it  after 
that  of  the  church  at  Plymouth.  It  was  the  scrip- 
tural argument  which  convinced  that  "reverend  and 
learned  divine,  Mr.  John  Cotton,"  of  the  truth  of  the 
Congregational  way ;  and  it  was  the  same  Cotton,  who, 
in  a  little  book  the  margins  of  which  are  black  with 
citations  from  the  New  Testament,  demonstrated  that 
the  government  of  the  church  is  "spirituall  and 
heavenly,  as  being  administered,  not  according  to  the 
precepts  of  men,  but  Christ's  commandments;  not  by 
earthly  weapons,  but  by  the  Word."^    It  was  the  oral 

1  Of  Schism,  Edinburgh  edition  of  1852,  vol.  xiii.  p.  99. 

2  The  Doctrine  of  the  Church,  to  which  is  committed  the  Keys  of 
the  Kingdome  of  Heaven,  third  edition,  London,  ItiAi,  p.  10. 


42  PUmCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lbct.  i. 

and  "  manuscript  arguments "  of  Cotton  which  went 
far  toward  convincing  Thomas  Goodwin  and  John 
Davenport.  It  was  Goodwin  who  proposed  in  the 
Westminster  Assembly,  that,  before  fixing  upon  the 
church  government  "most  agreeable  to  God's  holy 
word,"  the  question  should  be  decided,  whether  the 
Scriptures  contain  a  rule  for  the  constitution  and  gov- 
ernment of  churches.  It  was  he,  also,  who  most  skil- 
fully and  persistently  held  up  before  that  assembly  the 
scriptural  plan  of  governing  churches.^  It  was  Dav- 
enport who  declared  that  in  the  New  Testament  "  we 
finde  the  grand  Charter  it  self  and  the  ancient  Presi- 
dents (precedents)  of  the  first  Christian  churches 
planted  by  the  apostles."  ^  It  was  he,  also,  who  came  to 
New  England  determined  "  to  drive  things  ...  as  near 
to  the  precept  and  pattern  of  Scripture  as  they  could  be 
driven."  And  John  Robinson,  who  had  studied  under 
the  same  master  with  John  Cotton,  in  his  notable 
Farewell,  speaks  of  the  "  pure  Testamente  of  Christ, 
to  be  propounded  and  followed  as  y®  only  rule  and 
pattern  for  direction  herein  to  all  churches  and  Chris- 
tians." 3 

Nor  did  the  men  of  following  generations  fail  to  un- 
derstand the  principle  upon  which  these  earlier  men  were 
determinately  working.  The  whole  consciousness  and 
very  breath  of  our  body  politic  has  been  infused  with 
the  aromatic  vitality  of  this  principle.  "  They  were 
in  the  sentiments,"  says  Prince,*  in  giving  a  summary 

1  Article  of  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  in  New-Englander  for  November, 
1878. 

2  Power  of  Congregational  Churches  asserted  and  vindicated,  Lon- 
don, 1672,  p.  2. 

3  See  Bradford's  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  p.  59,  note,  and 
Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  series  3d,  vol.  ix.  p.  70,  as  to  this  so-called  Farewell 
Discourse  of  Robinson. 

*  New  England  Chronology,  Boston,  1826,  p.  176. 


LECT.  I.]  THE  FOEMAL   PRINCIPLE.  4S 

of  the  main  principles  of  Robinson  and  his  chiirch, 
"that  the  inspired  Scriptures  only  contain  the  true 
religion,  and  especially  nothing  is  to  be  accounted  the 
Protestant  religion,  respecting  either  faith  or  worship, 
but  what  is  taught  in  them."  So  Cotton  Mather  under- 
stood his  ancestors  when  he  describes  them  as  having 
"agreed  little  further  than  in  this  general  principle, 
that  the  Reformation  of  the  church  was  to  be  endeav- 
ored according  to  the  written  Word  of  God."  ^  The 
platforms  erected  by  the  early  synods,  even  after  re- 
ceiving a  patch  or  a  curtain  in  front  at  the  hands  of 
many  lesser  and  later  councils  and  conventions  (as  was 
the  case,  for  instance,  not  long  since,  through  the  notable 
Vermont  resolution),  are  neither  obscure  nor  timid  in 
laying  down  this  formal  principle.  "  The  parts  of 
church  government,"  says  the  Cambridge  Platform,^ 
"  are  all  of  them  exactly  described  in  the  word  of 
God."  ..."  So  that  it  is  not  left  in  the  power  of  men, 
officers,  churches,  or  any  state  in  the  world,  to  add,  or 
diminish,  or  alter  any  thing  in  the  least  measure  there- 
in." And  the  Saybrook  Confession  of  Faith  in  bold 
and  masterful  language  declares,  "  The  Supreme  Judge, 
by  whom  all  controversies  of  religion  are  to  be  deter- 
mined, and  all  decrees  of  councils,  opinions  of  ancient 
writers,  doctrines  of  men,  and  private  spirits,  are  to  be 
examined,  and  in  whose  sentence  we  are  to  rest,  can  be 
no  other  but  the  Holy  Scripture  delivered  by  the  Spirit, 
into  which  Scripture  so  delivered  our  faith  is  finally 
resolved."  3  That  our  entire  polity  was  rediscovered 
and  shaped  in  self-conscious  adherence  to  this  formal 
principle,  all  the  later  writers  expressly  recognize,  in 
forms  varying  from  the  brief  and  somewhat  incomplete 

1  Magnalia,  I,  iv,  §  6. 

2  Chap.  I.  3.        8  Chap.  I.  Sect.  x. 


44  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

statement  of  Punchard  to  the  exceedingly  elaborate 
one  proposed  by  Dr.  Dexter.^ 

Leaving,  for  the  present,  the  discnssion  of  the  formal 
principle,  let  ns  pass  on  to  inquire.  What  is  the  material 
principle  of  Congregationalism  ?  In  its  discovery  and 
statement  we  have  little  help  from  either  our  denomi- 
national literature,  or  our  hereditary  consciousness. 
The  workmen  upon  the  building  of  our  church  order 
have  known  the  master  architect,  to  whose  word  of  com- 
mand they  kept  always  an  attentive  ear :  they  have  not 
always  known  the  one  great  idea  according  to  which 
the}^  were  erecting  the  building.  The  material  principle 
must,  then,  be  discovered  by  inspection  of  the  building 
rather  than  by  testimony  from  the  self-conscious  work- 
men. There  is,  indeed,  one  great  doctrine  of  Chris- 
tianity which  has  received  through  the  growth  of 
Congregationalism  a  distinctive  development.  This  de- 
velopment and  the  corresponding  application  of  the  doc- 
trine are  distinctively  Congregational.  The  one  great 
truth  which  gives  the  basis,  and  expresses  the  sum  total, 
of  our  distinctive  views  of  Christian  truths,  is  our  doc- 
trine of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  material  principle  of  Con- 
gregationalism may  be  stated  in  the  following  terms  :  — 

The  immediateness  and  fulness  of  that  relation  ivhich 
exists  between  the  Spirit  of  Christ  and  the  Church  of  Christ 
extends  to  every  congregation  of  true  Christians  and  to  the 
soul  of  every  individual  true  believer. 

"  It  is  a  scriptural  principle  recognized  by  Congrega- 
tionalists,"  says  a  recent  writer,  while  stating  in  half- 
way fashion  this  fundamental  material  principle  of  a 
true  church  polity,  "  that  every  believer  has  received  a 

1  Congregationalism,  p.  2.  A  theory  of  exegesis  and  a  partial  state- 
ment of  the  material  iirinciple  of  Congregationalism  are,  however, 
blended  with  this  statement. 


LECT.  I.]  THE  MATERIAL   PRINCIPLE.  45 

gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  that  gifts  of  teaching  and 
exhortation  are  distributed,  not  to  the  clergy  exclu- 
sively, but  to  many  others  also."  ^  The  principle  is 
much  broader  than  this  statement :  it  has  been  always 
tacitly  assumed  amongst  us,  rarely  expressed  with  dis- 
tinctness, and  almost  never  with  recognition  of  that  im- 
portant position  which  it  really  holds.  The  study 
which  we  bestow  upon  the  springs  of  being,  the  vital 
parts,  the  quickening  influences  of  this  great  develop- 
ment of  doctrine,  will  alone  avail  to  make  clear  the 
justness  of  our  claim.  Congregationalism  has  built 
into  its  very  being,  built  in  by  vital  processes  of  nutri- 
tion and  growth,  as  food  is  built  into  the  fabric  of 
muscle  and  bone,  a  special  development  of  "the  great 
New-Testament  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  the 
illuminer,  guide,  and  ruler  of  redeemed  souls.  Con- 
cerning the  nature  of  this  material  principle  we  notice 
at  present  only  the  following  particulars  :  — 

First,  this  material  principle  has  constantly  accom- 
panied and  modified  the  formal  principle.  The  true 
church  polity  resorts  to  the  Bible  to  find  there,  respect- 
ing both  doctrine  and  church  order,  the  revelation  of 
the  Spirit  of  Christ.  In  this  resort  Congregationalists 
claim  to  have  with  them  what  they  .gladly  concede 
every  Christian  may  obtain,  viz.,  the  revelation  of  the 
same  Spirit  in  their  spirits. 

Again:  this  principle,  called  material,  must  unite 
with  the  formal  principle  in  order  to  derive  from  them 
both  each  one  of  those  secondary  principles,  which  in 
their  totality  distinguish  the  true  church  polity.  The 
spirituality  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ,  in  its  faith, 
institution,  laws,  and  administration,  was  a  fundamental 
truth  unswervingly  maintained  by  the  early  Congrega- 

1  Article  of  Dr.  Noyes,  in  New-Englander,  July,  1879,  p.  522. 


46  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

tionalists.  Whenever  likely  to  depart  from  this  princi- 
ple, we  should  recall  the  words  of  Robinson : ^  "As  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  is  not  of  this  world,  but  spiritual, 
and  he  a  spiritual  king,  so  must  the  government  of 
this  spiritual  kingdom  under  this  spiritual  king  needs 
be  spiritual,  and  all  the  laws  of  it." 

Moreover,  this  material  principle  belongs  to  the  most 
advanced  order  of  Christian  doctrine  :  it  has  to  do  with 
the  divine  self-revelation  in  the  Holy  Spirit.  Its  prac- 
tical outcome  can  be  fully  manifested  only  at  the  latest 
stages  in  the  unfolding  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on 
earth.  All  the  great  religious  questions  are  becoming 
more  and  more  questions  of  the  Spirit.  Science,  phi- 
losophy, and  theology  are  to  unite  upon  a  true  and 
comprehensive  doctrine  of  God  as  the  Eternal  and 
Absolute  Spirit.  The  coming  age,  in  its  chief  charac- 
teristics, is  the  age  of  the  Spirit. 

And,  finally,  this  material  principle  of  Congregation- 
alism is  destined  surely  to  win  its  way  to  due  recogni- 
tion among  all  classes  of  Christians.  This  principle, 
let  it  be  said  reverently,  democratizes  the  activities 
and  alliances  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  aristocratic 
view  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit  has  hitherto  prac- 
tically been  prevalent.  But  the  future  belongs  to  the 
other  view  as  surely  as  the  promise  shall  be  fulfilled, 
"I  will  pour  out  my  spirit  upon  all  flesh."  We  be- 
lieve in  the  final  triumph  of  these  principles  of  a  true 
church  polity,  because  that  polity  has  been  twice  born, 
—  born  once  in  the  apostolic  age,  a  second  time  in 
the  age  of  the  Reformation  in  England,  but  born  both 
times  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     Of   its  parentage   at  this 

1  Justification  of  Separation  from  the  Church  of  England.  See  also 
Uhden's  New-England  Theocracy,  p.  43,  ft.,  and  Backus's  History  of 
New  England,  vol.  I.  p.  25,  f. 


LEOT.  I.]  THE   SECONDARY  PEINCIPLES.  47 

second  appearing,  we  can  say  with  President  Oakes, 
"  The  Lord,"  that  is,  the  Spirit  of  Christ  in  them  and 
in  their  circumstances,  "did  more  for  them  than  for 
any  people  in  the  world."  ^ 

The  history  of  Congregationalism  shows  us  its  formal 
and  material  principles  as  combined  and  active  in  these 
seven  secondary  or  derived  principles. 

Of  the  seven  we  mention  first  the  principle  of 
Christ's  exclusive  rulership.  Our  fathers  believed  that 
hierarchical  systems,  enforced  conformity  to  creeds  and 
forms  of  worship,  and  subservience  to  human  authori- 
ties and  titles,  are  derogatory  to  the  kingship  of  Christ. 
It  was  part  of  their  desire  to  re-establish  King  Imman- 
uel  on  the  throne  of  the  visible  church.  Kings  who 
usurped  authority  over  his  churches,  and  clergy  who 
set  themselves  up  as  priests  and  lords,  had  drawn  a 
curtain  before  the  throne-room  of  this  king.  But 
said  Robinson,  "  Christ  is  as  absolute  and  entire  a  king 
as  he  is  a  priest ;  and  his  people  must  be  as  careful  to 
preserve  the  dignity  of  the  one  as  to  enjoy  the  benefits 
of  the  other." 2  "This  was  and  is,"  said  John  Higgin- 
son  of  Salem,  "  our  cause  in  coming  here,  that  Christ 
alone  might  be  acknowledged  by  us  as  the  only  Head, 
Lord,  and  Lawgiver."  Thomas  Hooker^  defines  the 
purpose  of  the  early  Congregationalists  as  follows :  "  As 
the  prophetical  and  priestly  office  of  Christ  was  com- 
pletely'vindicated  in  the  first  times  of  reformation,  so 
now  the  great  cause  and  work  of  God's  reforming  peo- 
ple is  to  clear  the  rights  of  Christ's  kingly  office,  and 
in  their  practice  to  set  up  his  kingdom."  The  com- 
plete and  consistent  application  of  this  principle,  which 

1  See  Vindication  of  the  Government  of  New-England  Churches,  by 
John  Wise,  Boston,  1772,  p.  19. 

2  Justification  of  Separation  from  the  Church  of  England. 
8  Preface  to  Survey  of  Church  Discipline. 


48  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

refers  ever)''  thing  of  authority  in  the  constitution  and 
practice  of  the  Church  to  the  Lordship  of  Jesus  Christ, 
may  be  seen  in  Davenport's  compact  and  masterly 
deduction  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  from  Matt, 
xvi.  18.  "  Upon  this  rock  I  will  build  my  church," 
says  our  Lord:  "therefore,"  concludes  Davenport,  "(1) 
Christ  as  Lord  and  Head  is  the  efficient  cause  of  the 
Church ;  (2)  Christ  as  believed  on  and  confessed  is  the 
material  cause  of  the  Church ;  and  (3)  The  covenant- 
ins:  of  the  Church  with  Christ  and  one  another  is  its 
formal  cause."  ^  This  principle  of  the  sole  rulership  of 
Jesus  Christ  in  all  things  concerning  his  Church  follows 
necessarily  and  immediately  from  the  blending  of  the 
formal  and  material  principles.  The  Bible  and  the 
witness  of  the  Christian  consciousness  unite  in  testi- 
fying that  Jesus  was  and  is  the  king  of  redeemed 
souls,  the  ruler  of  the  redeemed  people.  Both  Old 
and  New  Testaments  proclaim  that  he  was  a  king,  and 
promise  that  he  shall  in  the  future  be  more  completely 
the  king.  The  Spirit  in  the  heart  of  the  believer 
knows  the  Lord  of  the  believer  as  now  being  indeed  a 
king.2  It  is  our  material  principle  which  evinces  and 
enforces  the  duty  of  every  Christian  to  bow  before  the 
rulership  of  Christ,  the  duty,  also,  to  acknowledge  no 
other  ruler  than  Christ. 

For  the  principle  of  individual  equality  and  self- 
control  is  another  princi]Dle  of  a  true  church  polity. 
This  is  the  reverse  of  the  principle  of  Christ's  exclusive 
rulership.     It   is  also  necessarily  and  immediately  de- 

1  The  Power  of  Congregational  Churches,  pp.  3,  ff. 

2  Professor  E.  A.  Lawrence,  in  an  address  before  the  General  Associ- 
ation of  Connecticut,  in  commemoration  of  its  one  hundred  and  fiftieth 
anniversary,  instances  first  among  the  three  great  principles  of  Congre- 
gationalism, this  one  :  Christ  the  sole  legislator  in  the  Church.  See 
Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  74. 


LECT.  I.]  THE   SECONDARY   PRINCIPLES.  49 

rived  from  a  combination  of  the  formal  and  material 
principles.  It  is,  indeed,  difficult  to  state  the  truth  of 
this  principle  i)i  any  unexceptionable  form  as  a  logical 
proposition.  A  certain  doctrine  and  spirit  of  Christian 
individualism  is,  however,  an  unmistakable  characteristic 
of  our  polity.  The  roots  of  this  principle  of  a  just  in- 
dividualism lie  deep  down  and  far  back.  They  are  as 
far  back  in  the  Bible  as  the  primitive  utterance  in  which 
God  says,  "  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image  ;  "  or  the  cov- 
enant of  Mosaism,  which  gives  to  each  of  the  followers 
of  Jehovah  the  title  of  priest  and  king.  They  are  as 
far  back  in  human  consciousness  as  the  time  when  the 
first  human  soul  recognized  itself  as  a  free  and  respon- 
sible spirit  standing  over  against  the  Eternal  Spirit. 
They  are  as  deep  down  in  the  Bible  as  the  truth  that 
God  does  not  regard  the  countenance  of  man,  but  re- 
quires of  every  man  his  heart,  and  a  worship  which  is 
in  the  spirit  and  in  truth.  They  are  as  deep  down  in 
consciousness  as  that  recognition  of  one's  own  spiritual 
worth  which  is  necessary  to  ask  intelligently  the  question, 
What  shall  a  man  give  or  take  in  exchange  for  the  soul? 
This  principle  is,  however,  as  far  as  possible  from  a  dec- 
laration of  contemptuous  disregard  of  influence,  or  even 
authority  (if  you  will  use  the  word  in  its  modified  mean- 
ing), within  the  church  of  Christ.  The  Lord's  bondman 
is  no  man's  bondman,  though  he  should  be  servant  of  all. 
Every  Christian,  however  unlearned  and  weak,  stands  in 
essentially  the  same  relations  with  every  other,  however 
wise  and  strong.  With  respect  to  sin  he  is  a  freedman ; 
with  respect  to  his  fellows  he  is  a  freeman ;  Avith  re- 
spect to  his  Lord,  he  is  a  slave.  Nor  does  personal 
dignity,  nor  official  position,  nor  experience  in  the  gos- 
pel, nor  even  the  apostolic  calling,  essentially  change 
these  relations.     Congregationalism  always  stands  ready 


60  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

to  remind  its  great  men,  in  the  words  of  Latimer,  "  The 
apostles  preached  .  .  .  and  lorded  not."  It  does  not 
permit  that  it  shall  be  said  of  its  own  ministers,  "  And 
now  they  lord,  and  preach  not."  New-England  Congre- 
gationalism has  no  doubt  at  times  developed  an  excess 
of  bad  individualism ;  but  to  permit  and  foster  a  large 
amount  of  what  Dr.  J.  P.  Thompson  called  "  sanctified 
individualism "  is  an  essential  principle  of  the  true 
church  polit3^  And  as  this  principle  is  bound  down 
on  the  one  side  by  the  principle  of  Christ's  exclusive 
rulership,  so  is  it  bound  down  on  the  other  side  by 
another  principle  of  Congregationalism. 

The  thu'd  principle  is  that  of  a  regenerate  member- 
ship. The  right  use  of  the  second  of  these  derived 
principles  is  conditioned  upon  the  right  use  of  the  first 
and  third.  These  two  serve  either  as  wings  or  as  weights 
for  the  principle  of  individual  equality  and  self-control, 
according  as  men  are  inclined  to  make  use  of  it.  To 
a  "  sanctified  individualism "  the  human  soul  niay  rise 
upon  the  truth,  Christ  is  my  only  Lord,  and  I  call  no 
man  master :  from  the  cold  heights  of  an  unholy  indi- 
vidualism the  same  soul  may  be  kept  down  by  the  truth, 
to  obey  my  Master  is  to  act  with  others  as  fellow-ser- 
vant. Regeneration  of  the  soul  secures  obedience  to 
Christ :  obedience  to  Christ  alone  secures  spiritual  free- 
dom. That  the  founders  of  Congregationalism,  both 
in  England  and  in  this  country,  regarded  this  third 
principle  as  an  essential  element  of  the  true  doctrine 
and  right  institution  of  the  Christian  Church,  I  need  not 
stay  to  prove.  Their  earnest  study  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment had,  as  Dr.  Noyes  says,^  "  put  them  in  possession  of 
their  beautiful  secret,  —  the  true  conception  of  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  on  earth."     Possessing  the  secret  of  this 

1  New-Englander,  July,  1879,  p.  516. 


LECT.  I.]  THE   SECONDARY  PRINCIPLES.  51 

great  conception,  tlie  divine  law  for  the  constitution  of 
the  Christian  Church  could  not  remain  to  them  a  secret. 
Churches,  in  order  to  conform  to  this  conception,  must 
adopt  the  law  which  prevailed  when  the  Lord  added 
daily  to  the  apostolic  churches,  but  only  of  such  as 
were  already  in  process  of  salvation.  The  right  to  keep 
the  local  church  pure,  they  concluded,  resides  in  each 
local  church.  But  this  right  of  discipline  cannot  be 
duly  exercised,  except  upon  the  principle  of  a  regenerate 
membership.  The  wrong  of  communing  in  the  most 
holy  sacramental  acts  with  those,  who,  neither  in  faith 
nor  in  conduct,  claimed  the  spiritual  communion  upon 
which  the  sacraments  take  place,  could  be  amended 
only  by  the  application  of  this  same  principle.  "  The 
people  are  the  church,"  said  Robinson,^  "  and  to  make  a 
reformed  church  there  must  first  be  a  reformed  people." 
It  is  only  by  the  grace  of  God  in  their  hearts,  he  goes 
on  to  maint^iin,  that  the  people,  "being  first  fitted  for 
and  made  capable  of  the  sacraments  and  other  ordi- 
nances, might  afterwards  have  communicated  in  the  pure 
use  of  them."  "  Christ  believed  on  and  confessed  is," 
in  the  judgment  of  them  all,  and  according  to  the  words 
of  Davenport,^  "  the  rock  whereupon  a  particular  visible 
church  is  built."  It  was,  therefore,  as  a  fundamental 
doctrine,  almost  without  a  single  exception  even  so 
much  as  questioned  by  our  early  authorities,  that  the 
Cambridge  Platform  laid  down  its  definitions.  A  Con- 
gregational church  must  consist  of  a  "  company  of  saints 
by  calling :  "  ^  repentance,  faith,  and  obedience  are  requi- 
sites of  those  "by  the  Holy  Ghost  called  saints  and 
faithful  brethren."  *     This  principle  Uhden  declares  ^  to 

1  Justification  of  Separation  from  the  Church  of  England. 

2  Power  of  Congregational  Churches,  p.  9. 

3  Chap.  II.  6.      4  Chap.  III.  2.       5  New-England  Theocracy,  p.  68. 


52  PKINCrPLES   OF   CHTJECH  POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

be  one  of  the  two  great  cUstinguisliing  principles  of 
Congregationalism.  To  define  it  more  accurately  in 
both  its  positive  and  negative  form,  to  show  its  connec- 
tion with  our  two  primary  principles,  to  trace  its  history, 
and  suggest  some  of  its  applications,  will  occupy  us  in 
the  Sixth  Lecture  of  this  Course. 

Closely  connected  with  the  foregoing  secondary  prin- 
ciples, and  like  them  including  in  itself  elements  from 
both  the  formal  and  the  material  principle,  is  the  one 
which  we  have  placed  fourth.  It  directly  concerns,  and 
gives  fundamental  laws  and  inseparable  practices  to,  the 
true  church  polity.  Tliis  is  the  principle  of  the  auton- 
omy of  the  local  church.  That  "  the  several  churches 
are  altogether  independent  of  one  another,"  Uhden 
states^  to  be  the  other  of  the  two  fundamental  principles 
of  the  church  order  of  the  Puritans.  The  statement  is 
inaccurately  expressed.  The  terms  "  independent  "  and 
"independency  "  may,  perhaps,  on  account  of  the  preju- 
dice and  opprobrium  which  they  have  excited,  be  com- 
fortably and  safely  discarded.  The  suggestion  for  the 
application  of  the  term  "  autonomy  "  to  the  condition  of 
the  local  Congregational  church  is,  so  far  as  I  am  aware, 
first  found  with  Davenport.^  It  is  based  upon  the 
analogy  which  exists  between  "  the  spiritual  power  of  a 
Congregational  church  of  Christ  and  the  civil  power  of 
the  most  free  and  perfect  cities."  This  power  includes 
the  "•  three  privileges ;  viz.,  to  use,  1.  Their  own  laws ; 
2.  Magistrates  ;  3.  Judgments."  To  every  cit}^  having 
these  powers  Thucydides  gives  the  title  avrovonog^  or 
avTOTslrjg.  Perhaps  no  better  definition  of  the  autonomy 
of  the  local  church  can  be  given  than  the  one  proposed 
nearly  two  centuries  ago  by  Rev.  John  Wise :  ^  "  A  gos- 

1  New-England  Theocracy,  p.  68. 

2  Power  of  Congregational  Churches,  p.  123.        «  'V  indication,  p.  49. 


LECT.  I.]  THE   SEC01<rDAEY   PRINCIPLES.  63 

pel  church  essentially  considered  as  a  body  incorporated 
is  the  subject  of  all  church  power."  The  exact  theoreti- 
cal statement  and  practical  adjustment  of  this  principle 
have  always  been  disputed  by  two  parties  in  Congrega- 
tionalism. To  discover  in  the  past  history  of  our  order 
the  same  heated  debate,  the  same  arguments,  the  same 
alarms,  the  same  recriminations,  with  which  present  ex- 
perience familiarizes  us,  is  either  discouraging  or  refresh- 
ing, according  to  one's  point  of  view.  As  to  the  power 
of  Christian  congregations  to  govern  themselves,  Congre- 
gationalism has  always  had  a  large  confidence.  It  would 
be  hard  indeed,  to  prove  by  any  comparative  detriment 
which  has  resulted  from  the  use  of  this  power,  that  the 
confidence  should  be  a  diminishing  one.  To  tire  people 
under  the  God  of  righteousness,  our  civil  government 
commits  itself.  To  the  same  people,  redeemed  and 
inspired  by  Christ,  our  churcli  government  also  commits 
itself.  In  the  civil  state  the  people  have  the  light  of 
reason  for  their  control.  In  the  church  state  the  third 
principle  provides  that  such  as  are  "  adorned  with  a 
double  set  "of  ennobling  immunities  —  the  first  from 
nature,  the  other  from  grace  "  —  shall  enter  into  religious 
partnership.  Must  these  men,  racily  asks  the  pastor  of 
Ipswich,  "  when  they  enter  into  charter-party  to  manage 
a  trade  for  heaven,  ipso  facto  be  clapped  under  a  govern- 
ment that  is  arbitrary  and  despotic  ?  "  ^ 

In  close  and  almost  integrating  relation  with  the 
principle  of  the  autonomy  of  tlie  local  church  stands 
the  fifth  principle ;  namely,  that  of  the  communion  of 
churches.  How  far  this  principle  should  limit  the  for- 
mer is  still  a  question  for  fair  discussion.  It  has  also 
been  a  question  most  acrimoniously  discussed.  How 
the  adjustment  of  the  two  principles  actually  has  been 

1  Wise's  Vindication,  p.  42. 


54  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

made  in  the  past  is  a  question  simply  for  candid  histori- 
cal research.  The  truth  of  history  will  be  found  to  be, 
that  both  principles  have  been  variously  enunciated, 
both  frequently  and  sometimes  flagrantly  violated,  and 
yet  both  steadfastly  asserted,  by  the  advocates  of  the 
two  conflicting  views.  This  fact  may  seem  discouraging 
to  the  inquirer  who  would  know  by  which  of  the  two 
he  shall  hold  most  firmly,  especially  discouraging  to 
him  who  would  know  how  with  equal  firmness  he  may 
hold  by  both.  If,  however,  one  is  proposing  to  dispense 
with  the  consideration  of  all  seemingly  conflicting  prin- 
ciples, one  must  escape  from  the  present  universe  of 
truth ;  if  one  is  proposing  to  refuse  the  adjustment  of 
such  principles  in  practice,  one  must  escape  from  the 
present  sphere  of  conduct. 

Upon  no  point  of  argument  or  of  practice  did  our 
Congregational  ancestry  bestow  more  pains  than  uj)on 
the  one  of  proving  that  they  were  not  schismatic,  or  sepa- 
ratist (properly  so-called),  or  unnaturally  egoistical  in 
their  relations  with  other  Christians.  From  such  birth- 
pains  issued  the  work  of  John  Owen,  entitled  "  Of 
Schism,"  with  its  elaborate  arguments  and  its  following 
kindred  treatises."  "  Wee  bynd  ourselves,"  reads  the 
covenant  drawn  up  by  Higginson  for  the  first  church 
organized  in  New  England,  "  to  studdy  the  advancement 
of  the  Gospell  in  all  truth  and  peace,  both  in  regard  of 
those  that  are  within,  or  without,  noe  way  sleighting 
our  sister  Churches,  but  useing  theire  Counsell  as  need 
shalbe."  ^  The  fresh,  sweet  picture  which  the  New 
Testament  paints  of  the  communion  of  apostolic 
churches,  the  obligations  of  fraternal  charity,  which  cut 
to  the  root,  as  they  do,  every  manifestation  of  isolating 

1  See  copy  of  the  records  of  the  First  Church  of  Salem,  in  Mr. 
"White's  New-England  Congregationalism,  p.  14. 


LECT.  I.]  THE   SECONDARY   PRESTCIPLES.  55 

pride  or  ill-principled  caprice,  commit  the  formal  princi- 
ple of  Congregationalisn  to  the  communion  of  churches. 
The  very  nature  of  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
the  primal  effect  of  the  habits  of  acting  and  thinking 
which  are  formed  under  the  influence  of  this  doctrine, 
commit  to  the  same  cause  our  material  principle.  How- 
ever difficult  we  may  find  the  detailed  adjustment  of  the 
communion  of  churches  to  the  autonomy  of  the  local 
church,  the  true  church  polity  will  never,  in  theory  or  in 
practice,  omit  to  consider  either  one  of  the  two.  The 
power  of  Christian  brotherly  love  in  defining  both  theory 
and  practice  we  shall  hope  to  feel,  not  unfrequently,  in 
this  Course  of  Lectures. 

We  mention  as  the  sixth  principle  of  the  true  church 
polity  the  following,  —  the  principle  of  conserving  the 
results  of  common  experience.  We  might,  perhaps,  call 
this  the  common-law  principle.  It  is  not,  indeed,  dis- 
tinctly recognized  by  those  who  have  made  an  analysis 
of  the  necessary  elements  of  Congregationalism ;  but  it 
is,  nevertheless,  one  of  such  necessary  elements.  Even 
the  most  careful  and  thorough  application  of  the  formal 
principle  cannot  give  vis  all  we  need  to  know  for  the 
right  application  of  the  germinal  ideas  and  vital  princi- 
ples of  church  polity.  We  need  rules ;  and  the  Bible 
gives  few  rules.  Nor  can  we  get  these  rules  by  imme- 
diate personal  inspiration.  They  do  not  come  steadily 
and  clearly  to  view  in  the  flashes  of  the  "  inner  light." 
Congregationalism  was  in  early  days  careful  to  sepa- 
rate itself  from  all  Quakers,  Anabaptists,  and  fanatics 
of  every  sort.  Its  instruments  of  separation  were  not 
always  of  the  most  delicate  pattern :  its  use  of  the  in- 
struments which  it  had  at  command  cannot  always  be 
commended.  But  the  obscure  recognition  of  this  sixth 
principle    accounts,  in  part,  for  the  act  of  separation. 


66  PRINCIPLES  OF   CHUECH  POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

Our  fathers  believed  in  candid  research  of  the  Bible  for 
new  light :  they  believed,  also,  in  the  indwelling  of  that 
light  "which  lighteth  every  man  coming  into  the 
world,"  and  which  is  a  perennial  fountain  of  light  for 
the  true  believer.  But  they  believed  in  common  sense 
as  well ;  and  common  sense  is  aggregated  and  inherited 
and  habituated  experience.  It  is,  then,  a  common-sense 
principle,  this  one  of  conserving  the  judgments,  and,  in 
general,  the  experience,  of  the  past  of  our  churches, 
and  of  not  departing  from  the  practices  based  upon  this 
experience,  without  both  a  rational,  and,  if  possible, 
also  an  experimental  ground  of  departure.  What  the 
other  denominations  accomplish  by  written  statutes, 
canons,  decrees,  bulls,  books  of  discipline  and  direction, 
we  attempt  by  common  law.  New  theories  must  be 
tested  before  adopted,  new  practices  proved  before 
wholly  approved.  The  old  way  is  not  always  the  best ; 
but  the  old  is  safer  until  you  have  a  better  way.  Ortho- 
doxy in  faith  or  in  polity  is  not  infallible ;  but  neither 
is  its  opposite.  And  orthodoxy  has  the  presumption  in 
its  favor.  "  We  do  earnestly  testify,"  say  John  Hig- 
ginson  and  William  Hubbard  in  their  joint  "  Testi- 
mony," ^  "  that,  if  any  Avho  are  given  to  change  do  rise 
up  to  unhinge  the  well  established  churches  in  this 
land,  it  will  be  the  duty  and  interest  of  the  churches, 
to "  —  one  might  suppose  some  dreadful  sentence,  like 
that  of  decapitation,  or  at  least  excommunication,  were 
about  to  be  recommended  ;  but  no  !  —  "  to  examine 
whether  the  men  of  this  trespass  are  more  prayerful, 
more  watchful,  more  zealous,  more  patient,  more  hea- 
venly, more  universally  conscientious,  and  harder  stu- 
dents, and  better  scholars,  and  more  willing  to  be 
informed  and  advised,  than  those  great  and  good  men 
1  See  Wise's  Vindication,  p.  69. 


LECT.  I.]  THE   SECONDARY  PRINCIPLES.  57 

who  left  unto  the  churches  what  they  now  enjoy." 
Surely  these  terms  are  made  sufficiently  hard  for  the 
admission  of  innovators.  That  same  author,  who  so 
sturdily  and  sarcastically  defended  the  liberties  of  the 
churches,  Rev.  John  Wise,  declares  that  to  plan  to  upset 
the  existing  order  is  to  presume  "  that  you  have  fairly 
monopolized  all  the  reason  of  human  nature,"  is,  indeed, 
to  "  assume  a  prerogative  of  trampling  under  foot  the 
natural  original  equality  and  liberty  of  your  fellows."  ^ 
Over  against  the  common-law  principle  of  the  true 
church  polity  we  place  in  balance  another,  which  is,, 
the  principle  of  progress  through  individual  inquiry. 
The  motto  of  this  principle  is  as  old  as  the  writing  of 
Cyprian :  Consuetudo  sine  verltate  est  vetustas  et'7'oris. 
Congregationalism  is  pre-eminently  a  product  of  the 
Reformation  way  of  holding  the  balance  between  pri- 
vate judgment  and  common  sense.  It  cannot  remem- 
ber its  own  history,  and  also  refuse  to  grant  a  large 
freedom  to  the  individual  in  the  discovery  and  promul- 
gation of  religious  truth.  It  is  matter  of  fact,  and  of 
essential  truth  as  well,  that,  as  Prince  declares,^  Rob- 
inson and  his  people  "  renounced  all  attachment  to  any 
mere  human  systems  or  expositions  of  the  Scripture, 
and  reserved  an  entire  and  perpetual  liberty  of  search- 
ing the  inspired  records,  and  of  forming  both  their  prin- 
ciples and  practice  from  those  discoveries  they  should 
make  therein,  without  imposing  them  on  others."  The 
same  author  also  declares,  that  one  of  their  main  princi- 
ples was  this,  "  that  every  man  has  a  right  of  judging 
for  himself,  of  trying  doctrines  by  the  Scriptures,  and 
of  worshipping   according  to  his  apprehension   of  the 

1  This  point  of  view  is  taken  throughout  his  treatise,  The  Church's 
Quarrel  Espoused. 

2  New-England  Chronology,  p.  175. 


58  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

meaning  of  them."  ^  This  principle  he  fitly  calls  "  the 
right  of  human  nature,"  "the  very  basis  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, and,  indeed,  of  all  sincere  religion."  We  have  the 
memory  of  Gov.  Winslow  as  guaranty  for  the  fact  that 
the  Leyden  pastor  considered  it  "  a  misery  much  to  be 
lamented,"  when  Lutherans  and  Calvinists  had  "  come 
to  a  period  in  religion,"  and  were  sticking  where  their 
rabbis  had  left  them,  refusing  "  to  go  further  than  the 
instruments  of  their  reformation."  This  sacred  princi- 
ple of  reasonable  progress  is  averred  also  by  the  "  Elders 
of  the  churches  in  New  England,"  in  their  answer  to 
the  "  Letter  of  Many  Ministers  in  Old  England."  Li 
the  opinion  of  these  elders,  churches  have  continuous 
need  "to  grow  from  apparent  defects  to  purity,  and 
from  reformation  to  reformation,  age  after  age."  And 
when  they  add,  "  especially  touching  the  ordering  of  liis 
house  and  worship,"  they  do  not  exclude  growth  and 
reformation  in  doctrine  also.^  The  men  of  the  same 
spirit  in  Old  England  themselves  held  the  same  view. 
"A  second  principle,"  says  the  famous  " Apologetical 
Narration,"  which  is  due  chiefly  to  Dr.  Thomas  Good- 
win, "a  second  principle  we  carried  along  with  us  in 
all  our  resolutions  was  not  to  make  our  present  judg- 
ment and  practice  a  binding  law  unto  ourselves  for  the 
future,  which  we  .  .  .  made  continual  profession  of 
upon  all  occasions."  ^  "  Be  you  never  so  peremptory  in 
your  opinions,"  says  Baxter,^  "you  cannot  resolve  to 
hold  them  to  the  end ;  for  light  is  powerful,  and  may 
change  you,  whether  you  will  or  no."  It  was  in  the 
consciousness  of  this  conviction,  as  common  to  all  Con- 

1  New-England  Chronology,  p.  177. 

2  See  Felt's  Ecclesiastical  History  of  New  England,  vol.  1,  p.  277,  f . ; 
and  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon's  article  in  New-Englander,  July,  1878. 

8  See  Hetherington's  History  of  the  Westminster  Assembly,  p.  160. 
*  Works,  vol.  1,  p.  42. 


LECT.  I.]  RELATIONS   OF   THE   PRINCIPLES.  59 

gregationalists,  that  Sir  Richard  Saltonstall  wrote  his 
letter  to  Cotton  and  Wilson,  gentl}'  reproaching  them 
for  "New  England's  Persecutions"  of  the  Anabaptists. 
It  was  in  the  consciousness  of  the  same  conviction  that 
Cotton  meekly  replied,  "  We  are  far  from  arrogating 
infallibility  of  judgment  to  ourselves,  or  affecting  uni- 
formity :  uniformity  God  never  required,  infallibility  he 
never  granted  us."  ^  The  hope  of  improvement  and 
the  right  of  private  judgment  combine  to  produce  the 
principle  of  progress  through  freedom  of  individual 
inquiry.  This  is  distinctively  a  principle  of  Congrega- 
tionalism. 

We  find,  then,  two  fundamental  principles  of  the 
true  Church  Polity,  and,  resulting  from  the  combination 
of  these  in  ways  to  be  pointed  out  more  distinctly  here- 
after, seven  other  principles,  to  which  has  been  given 
the  name  of  secondary,  or  derived.  Certain  specific 
applications  or  developments  of  these  principles  will 
occupy  us  in  the  subsequent  Lectures  of  this  Course. 
We  close  this  consideration  of  the  principles  themselves 
with  the  following  remarks,  applicable  to  the  analysis 
just  completed. 

The  relations  which  the  seven  derived  principles 
have  been  made  to  sustain  to  the  two  primary  and  to 
one  another  are  not  merely  speculative,  much  less  are 
they  the  result  of  capricious  and  whimsical  analysis. 
All  the  principles  of  the  true  church  polity  do  really 
flow  from  the  fountain  of  one  grand  idea,  —  the  idea  of 
the  communion  of  God  with  the  soul  of  man.  This 
divine  communion  through  the  book  gives  us  the  formal 
principle :  the  same  communion  through  the  indwelling 
spirit  gives  us  the  material  principle.  The  spirit  in  the 
book  and  the   spirit  in  the  soul  is  one  spirit.     More- 

1  See  Uhden's  New-England  Theocracy,  p.  115,  f. 


60  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lkct.  r. 

over,  all  the  secondary  principles  are  most  intimately 
related  to  one  another,  as  furnishing  each  other  with 
supplementary  truths  and  with  a  system  of  counter 
considerations,  checks,  and  limits,  in  the  practice  of 
these  principles.  The  common-law  principle  limits  the 
principle  of  change  through  individual  inquiry;  and  the 
latter  reciprocally  limits  the  former.  The  principle  of 
the  autonomy  of  the  local  church  is  held  in  check  by 
the  principle  of  the  communion  of  churches :  the  latter 
can  by  no  means  over-ride  the  territory  of  the  former. 
The  principle  of  individual  self-control  cannot  degener- 
ate into  egoism  or  anarchy,  because  whipped  back  into 
its  place  within  the  team  by  the  twofold  chord  of  its 
adjacent  principles.  Three  of  these  seven  principles 
tend  to  liberty,  spontaneity,  and  wealth  of  individual 
life ;  three  others,  to  consolidation,  order,  and  a  certain 
conformity  of  common  life.  One  principle,  that  of  a 
regenerate  membership,  tends  both  ways :  it  links 
together,  by  the  strong  silken  tie  of  communion  with 
God  and  with  man  in  love,  the  three  sister  principles 
which  stand  on  either  side.  It  was  a  somewhat  obscure 
feeling  of  tlie  obligation  and  expediency  of  balancing 
seemingly  opposite  principles,  which  led  Thomas  Good- 
win, and  the  other  authors  of  the  "Apologetical  Narra- 
tion," to  style  Congregationalism  the  "  Middle  Way." 
But  there  is  no  obscurity  in  the  words  of  John  Wise, 
(and,  indeed,  who  ever  discovered  aught  obscure  or 
timid  in  his  writings  ?)  when  he  declares  of  our  polity, 
"  It  has  the  best  balance  belonging  to  it  of  any  church 
government  in  the  world.  Other  governments  have 
generally  too  high  a  top,  and  are  very  loijsided  too." 
The  best  of  them,  he  declares,  "  plainly  hangs  over  sev- 
eral degrees  from  a  true  perpendicular,  towards  Baby- 
lon;    and  if  it  falls,  it  buries   you."     "But  here's  a 


LECT.  I.]  RELATIONS    OF   THE    PRINCIPLES.  61 

government  so  exactly  poised,  that  it  keeps  its  motions 
regular,  like  the  stupendous  spheres,  unless  some  Phae- 
ton chance  to  mount  the  chariot-box,  and  becomes  the 
driver."  ^ 

And  yet,  let  us  confess  it,  under  the  undue  pressure 
or  attraction  of  some  one  principle,  and  under  the  forces 
of  human  ignorance  and  selfishness,  our  church  govern- 
ment has  often  leaned  over  several  degrees,  in  various 
directions,  and  not  unfrequently  "  towards  Babylon." 
The  primary  principles  of  Congregationalism  have,  in- 
deed, never  been  abrogated  or  permanently  deteriorated 
by  its  adherents.  They  have,  however,  often  been  tem- 
porarily obscured.  And  there  is  not  one  of  the  derived 
principles  which  has  not  been  either  weakened,  or  vir- 
tually, for  the  time  being,  annulled,  by  numerous  indi- 
viduals, and  even  by  considerable  sections  of  Congrega- 
tional churches.  Noble  John  Robinson  was  not  wholly 
self-consistent  as  to  the  power  of  church  officers.^  The 
somewhat  too  obstreperous  General  Court  of  Boston 
not  unfrequently  contradicted  in  practice  its  own  most 
solemn  dicta.  Numbers  of  the  churches,  in  accepting 
the  half-way  covenant,  abrogated  one  of  our  most  essen- 
tial principles ;  and  synods  of  Congregational  churches 
not  only  approved,  but  even  strove  to  enforce,  the  abro- 
gation. The  Saybrook  Platform  was  the  theoretical,  if 
not  the  virtual,  abrogation  of  another  principle. 

And  finally,  we  still  enjoy,  or  tolerate,  conflicting 
views  of  the  right  proportions  in  which  different  ele- 
ments should  combine  to  form  the  organism  of  our 
body  corporate.  We  might  almost  describe  ourselves 
at  present  in  the  language  used  in  1676  to  describe  to 
the  Lords  of  Trade  and  Plantation  the  ecclesiastical 
character  of   Connecticut:    "Our  people  are  some  of 

1  Vindication,  p.  57.      2  See  Dr.  Dexter's  Congregationalism,  p.  126. 


62  PEINCEPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.  [lect.  i. 

them  strict  Congregational  men ;  others,  more  large 
Congregational  men ;  and  some,  moderate  Presbyte- 
rians." ^  Our  fathers  have  indeed  left  to  us  a  rich 
treasure  of  principles;  but  they  had  not  themselves 
completely  adjusted  in  all  their  applications  the  divis- 
ion of  this  inheritance.  If,  however,  we  are  to  find 
our  way  forth  from  any  mazes  of  difficulty  in  which 
we  may  be  wandering,  it  must  be  with  our  hands  firmly 
grasping  the  clew  of  the  same  principles.  For  our 
polity  is  a  matter  of  principles,  and  therefore  a  thing 
of  life :  being  a  matter  of  principles  and  a  thing  of 
life,  it  is  also  a  subject  of  growth.  The  growing  life 
must  adapt  itself  to,  and  be  modified  by,  the  environ- 
ments :  it  must  also  itself  assimilate  and  modify  the 
environments.  That  which  makes  it  sui  generis  a  true 
church  polity  cannot  be  modified :  all  else  may  be. 
Indeed,  when  we  observe  how  changes  carry  the  day 
in  all  matters  of  human  thought  and  practical  activi- 
ties, we  are  ready  to  say,  "  All  else  except  the  funda- 
mental and  characteristic  principles  will  be  changed." 

In  the  difficulties  which  encompass  the  detailed  appli- 
cation of  these  principles,  we  can  determine  truth,  and 
decide  conduct,  only  by  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
principles  involved.  If  the  earthly  rabbis  disagree,  we 
shall  know  wliich  to  follow,  only  by  knowing  in  follow- 
ing which  we  shall  come  closest  to  the  example  of  the 
New  Testament  and  to  the  spirit  of  Christ.  Only  as 
the  heavenly  Rabbi  teaches  us  by  the  word  "  objective  " 
and  the  word  "subjective,"  by  the  revelation  historic 
and  the  revelation  in  sanctified  reason,  shall  we  attain 
the  truth.  The  essential  and  permanent  truths  of  our 
polity  are  as  definite  as  the  truth  thus  attained :  they 
can  be  no  more  definite.  -He  who  wants  to  march  in 
1  See  Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  26. 


LECT.  I.]         FEASIBILITY  OF   THE   PRINCIPLES.  63 

Zion's  battle-array,  clad  in  a  ponderous  suit  of  unyield- 
ing mediaeval  armor,  will  probably  resort  to  other  divis- 
ions of  the  grand  army. 

But  if  any  young  man  who  now  hears  my  voice  shall 
attain  the  high  degree  of  a  Congregational  pastor,  and 
shall  have  before  him  any  perplexing  question  which 
calls  for  definite  theory  or  action,  I  venture  this  pre- 
diction :  With  ordinary  good  sense,  with  fairly  diligent 
inquiry,  with  study  of  the  principles  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  prayer  to  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  he  will  find  the 
solution  of  such  perplexing  question  as  speedily,  satis- 
factorily, and  safely,  under  the  polity  of  Congregation- 
alism as  under  any  other  system  of  managing  Christian 
churches ;  and  he  will  find  the  solution  more  manly, 
more  commendable  to  the  just  popular  estimate  of  what 
is  fair,  wise,  and  kind,  when  arrived  at  in  accordance 
with  the  before-mentioned  principles  than  in  any  other 
possible  way. 


LECTURE   II. 

THE  PRINCIPLES   OF   CONGEEGATIONALISM  APPIIED   TO 
MAN   AS   A  RATIONAL   SOUL. 

The  merest  glance  at  tlie  principles,  which,  as  we 
have  found  by  analysis,  constitute  and  difference  Con- 
gregationalism, will  reveal  to  thought  one  common 
characteristic.  They  all  have  a  certain  cast  of  reli- 
gious cosmopolitanism,  a  certain  quality  of  Christian 
humanity.  They  belong  to  the  redeemed  man  as  fitted 
and  required  to  live  in  social  relations  with  his  fellows, 
as  a  seeker  and  discoverer  of  divine  truth,  as  a  work- 
man pledged  to  and  engaged  in  the  reciprocal  activi- 
ties by  which  the  world  is  evangelized,  and  the  church 
edified.  These  principles  carry  with  them  no  taint  of 
any  thing  sectarian,  provincial,  sectional,  circumscribed 
in  time  or  space.  They  all,  at  first  blush,  show  features 
which  are  common  to  man  as  man,  and  to  every  Chris- 
tian as  a  redeemed  man. 

It  should  not,  then,  seem  illogical,  if  we  enter  upon 
the  discussion  of  some  of  their  special  applications  with 
the  presumption  that  the  subject  may  be  treated  in  a 
broad  and  generous  way.  The  applications  of  such 
principles  to  the  religious  life  and  organization  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  to  the  welfare  of  the  race,  cannot  well  be 
treated  otherwise.  The  task,  so  long  as  it  is  kept  in 
the  field  of  abstract  truth,  is  neither  unpleasant  nor 

64 


LECT.  11.]      THEIH   RELATIONS   TO   HUMAN   NATUEE.  65 

difBcult.  What  are  the  ideal  and  yet  veritable  rela- 
tions of  these  principles  to  the  complex  constitution 
and  activities  of  the  human  soul  and  of  the  Christian 
church,  there  should  be  earnest  inquiry :  there  need 
not  be  much  occasion  for  dispute.  We  cannot,  how- 
ever, overlook  the  concrete  facts  of  our  own  history, 
while  making  the  endeavor  to  apply  the  very  principles 
which  have  underlain  it  all ;  and  these  concrete  facts, 
both  of  the  past  history  and  of  present  experience, 
together  with  the  definite  questions  of  expediency  or 
duty  which  they  prompt,  furnish  tasks  that  are  often 
unpleasant  and  difficult.  As  to  what,  judging  from 
these  principles,  a  true  church  polity  ought  to  be,  we 
might,  perhaps,  all  speedily  and  happily  come  to  the 
same  opinion.  Of  what,  judging  by  manifold  experi- 
ence and  more  manifold  prophecy,  actual  and  concrete 
Congregationalism  is  and  will  yet  be,  different  in- 
quirers, equally  honest  and  diligent,  will  have  differing 
opinions.  We  know  no  better  way  of  conducting  our 
inquiry  than  to  hold  by  the  clew  of  recognized  princi- 
ples, to  acknowledge  faults  with  frank  contrition,  and 
to  seek  all  possible  improvement  in  practice. 

The  next  three  Lectures  will  occupy  themselves  with 
certain  applications  of  the  principles  of  Congregational- 
ism to  our  common  nature  and  common  life.  We  shall 
briefly  consider  how  these  principles  stand  related :  (1) 
To  man  as  a  rational  soul ;  (2)  To  man  as  a  social 
being;  and  (3)  To  man  as  a  citizen,  or  member  of  the 
civil  state. 

We  have,  then,  at  present  before  us,  to  inquire  how 
the  fundamentals  of  the  true  Church  Polity  stand  related 
to  the  higher  faculties  of  man ;  and  to  those  facul- 
ties, of  course,  as  they  are  active  with  what  is  true 
and  beautiful  in  religion,  and  with  what  is  morally  and 


66  PRINCIPLES   OF  CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  n. 

spiritually  good.  It  is  not  to  be  dismissed  as  a  piece 
of  sectarian  presumption,  or  denominational  conceit,  if 
we  assume  that  our  church  order,  when  essentially  con- 
sidered as  a  matter  of  principles,  has  in  reality  certain 
distinctive  relations  to  the  higher  faculties  of  man.  To 
say  that  any  one  of  the  many  Christian  sects  has  such 
peculiar  and  distinctive  relations  to  the  human  soul  as 
to  be  fitted  above  all  other  conflicting  sects  for  the 
control  and  culture  of  the  Christian  life  of  the  soul 
would  doubtless  seem  invidious.  And  against  all  sec- 
tarian individiousness  we  will  ever  pray,  "  Good  Lord, 
deliver  us."  We  will  begin,  then,  with  this  distinct 
and  time-honored  denial :  principled  Congregationalism 
is  not  a  sect.  We  will,  even  for  the  time,  if  you  please, 
avert,  or  at  least  postpone,  the  question,  "Are  we  a 
denomination  ?  "  But  these  three  truths  we  cannot  fail 
or  delay  to  assert.  First,  the  principles  brought  to 
recognition  by  the  analysis  of  the  first  Lecture  are  the 
fundamental  and  distinguisliiug  principles  of  Congre- 
gationalism. Second,  no  other  branch  of  the  visible 
church  of  Christ  has  in  its  history  so  vindicated  and 
combined  all  these  principles  as  original  Congrega- 
tionalism. Third,  the  vindication  and  combining  of 
these  principles  must,  when  considered  psychologically, 
appear  fitted  in  a  special  manner  and  degree  to  the 
growth  of  symmetrical  Christian  manhood ;  and,  when 
considered  historically,  they  are  actually  found  to  have 
made  special  and  large  contributions  to  such  growth. 
Mrgo :  Congregationalism,  considered  both  as  a  matter 
of  principles  and  as  an  efficient  cause  in  history,  has  a 
peculiar  and  distinctive  fitness  to  the  rational  soul  of 
man.  Quod  erat  demonstrandum.  We  are,  however, 
more  than  willing  to  hide  the  denominafional  name 
behind  the  principles :  this  we  may  do  in  imitation  of 


LECT.  II.]      THEIR   RELATIONS   TO   HUMAN  NATXJEE.         67 

the  skill  and  courtesy  of  the  author  who  has  demon- 
strated the  "  fitness  of  the  church  (meaning  by  church 
pre-eminently  the  Congregational  church  order)  to  the 
constitution  of  renewed  men."  ^ 

The  greatest  and  most  agitating  of  all  practical  ques- 
tions is  certainly  this  one,  How  shall  we  produce  the 
perfect  man  ?  Science,  philosophy,  art,  and  education, 
are  all  essaying  the  answer  to  this  question.  Science 
presents  us  with  its  scheme  of  that  process  by  which, 
out  of  a  merely  cosmical  origin,  by  the  interaction  of 
merely  physical  forces,  and  under  the  guidance  of 
merely  physical  laws,  man  has  been  already  so  far  per- 
fected as  we  now  find  him.  It  proposes  to  render  him 
as  nearly  perfect  as  may  be  in  the  future  by  cod  tinning 
indefinitely  the  same  process,  and  by  subjecting  it  more 
and  more  to  the  growing  intelligence  of  man,  who  is 
himself,  however,  wholly  in  and  of  the  same  process. 
To  the  question,  How  shall  we  produce  the  perfect  man  ? 
art  holds  up  the  delineation  of  beauty.  It  may  be  in 
marble,  or  it  may  be  on  canvas ;  it  may  be  in  mid-air, 
where  the  frieze  of  classic  temple  and  the  spire  of  Chris- 
tian cathedral  reflect  the  glor^  of  the  rising  and  the 
setting  sun ;  or  it  may  be  where,  within  that  temple,  the 
statues  of  heathen  divinities  display  their  strong  and 
graceful  limbs,  or  the  worship  of  true  Deity  is  swung 
up  from  the  fragrant  censer,  read  glowing  in  the  stained 
window,  and  heard  chanted  by  antiphonal  choirs.  Secu- 
lar education  proposes  with  tasks  and  drill,  with  hugger- 
mugger  use  of  books  and  maps  and  charts,  of  question- 
papers,  and  examinations,  with  much  sweat  and  clatter, 
to  hammer  out  of  raw  material  the  fashion  of  well- 
rounded  man.     Philosophy  essays  to  touch  the  deeper 

1  Address  of  Professor  Park  before  the  American  Congregational 
Union,  1854. 


68  PRESrCIPLES   OF   CHCTECH   POLITY.  [lect.  n. 

springs,  and  let  their  waters  np  from  below  for  the 
cleansing  of  humanity ;  or  open  the  very  sky -lights  of 
the  soul,  and  let  the  heavenly  radiance  down  from  above. 
All  these  —  science,  art,  education,  and  philosophy  — 
are  contributing  toward  the  desired  product,  which  is 
the  perfect  man. 

But  Christianity  also  and  chiefly  essays  the  answer. 
In  reply  to  the  inquiry,  What  is  the  perfect  man?  it 
points  a  calm,  unwavering  finger  toward  the  man  of 
Nazareth,  the  Son  of  man.  To  the  further  inquiry.  How 
shall  we  produce  the  perfect  man?  it  replies.  By  the 
processes  of  a  divine  life,  first  regenerating,  and  then 
edifying,  as  a  spirit  who  is  one  of  a  kingdom  of  kindred 
spirits,  the  rational  soul  of  man. 

Now,  no  diversity  of  the  one  church  of  Christ  has  any 
right  to  existence  on  earth  which  cannot  furnish  a  rea- 
sonable exhibit  of  its  special  ability,  in  some  definite 
place  or  time,  to  minister  to  the  product  of  perfect 
Christian  manhood.  The  Church  Catholic  exists  in 
organized  form,  that  it  may  impart  saving  knowledge 
of  the  will  of  God  in  Christ,  and  so  essentially  minister 
to  the  redemption  of  the  human  soul.  But  what  reason 
of  this  sort  can  any  sect  have  for  its  appearance  in  the 
body  of  the  Church  Catholic  ?  Only  with  great  arro- 
gance, and  with  equal  ignorance  of  history,  can  any 
sect  claim  that  it  alone  is  the  minister  of  salvation  to 
the  souls  of  men.  The  interest  which  the  j^resent  age 
takes  in  the  welfare  of  man  demands,  with  overwhelm- 
ing and  peremptory  eagerness,  of  every  division  of  the 
church  in  Christendom,  Do  you  exist  as  specifically 
adapted  and  equipped  to  make  men  better  than  they 
would  otherwise  be  ?  And,  if  not  thus  specifically 
adapted  and  equipped,  what  right  do  you  show  to  exist 
at  all?  As  a  distinctive  church  order,  are  you  prepared 
to  claim  that  you  benefit  ma  a  ? 


I.ECT.  II.]         THEIR    ATTITUDE   TOWARD    TRUTH.  69 

In  behalf  of  our  churcli  order  we  accept  the  fairness 
and  dignity  of  the  question.  We  claim  that  the  dis- 
tinctive principles  of  polity  which  we  advocate  are 
largely  and  admirably  adapted  to  the  uses  of  generous 
and  symmetrical  Christian  manhood.  We  claim  that 
these  principles,  if  accepted  and  intelligently  and  faith- 
fully applied,  will  make  believers  more  loyal  to  Christ, 
and  more  truly  independent  of  man,  more  spontaneous 
and  free  in  the  inquiry  after  truth  and  duty,  more 
charitable  and  self-sacrificing  in  regard  of  fellow-Chris- 
tians. 

In  the  substantiating  of  this  claim  we  consider  first 
the  desire  and  acquisition  of  the  true.  There  is  a  fit- 
ness in  these  principles  which  are  fundamental  and 
distinctive  of  our  church  order,  to  cultivate  in  manhood 
the  desire  and  acquisition  of  the  true.  Congregational- 
ism, historically  considered,  began  in  an  inquiry  after 
truth.  The  truth  sought  was  not  the  true  creed  among 
existing  creeds,  the  true  expediency  in  conforming  to 
certain  ordinances  of  men,  the  truly  great  doctor  or 
rabbi  who  has  declared  his  opinion  for  true,  or  the  truth 
as  to  how  uninspired  men  have  done  and  spoken  in  days 
gone  by.  The  truth  sought  was  the  truth  of  God :  it 
was  sought  with  all  the  heart,  and  without  fear  of  con- 
sequences. The  men  of  that  day  joined  hands  to  walk 
through  fire  and  water,  into  prison,  over  prejudice,  to 
walk,  indeed,  "  in  all  the  ways  of  the  Lord  made  known, 
or  to  be  made  known,  unto  them,  according  to  their  best 
endeavors,  whatever  it  should  cost  them."  ^  This  atti- 
tude of  free  and  fearless,  but  reverent  inquiry  after  reli- 
gious truth  is  as  truly  a  boon  to  the  cause  of  religious 
thought  as  the  corresponding  attitude  in  science  to  the 

1  Extract  from  the  Covenant  of  the  Church  at  Leyden.  See 
Bradford's  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  p.  9. 


70  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  ii, 

cause  of  scientific  research.  Nor  lias  tlie  benefit  of  this 
attitude  of  early  Congregationalism  in  the  inquiry  after 
the  true  been  by  any  means  confined  to  the  sphere  of 
religion  alone.  The  present  scientific  spirit  was  born 
hi  the  Church,  and  nursed  in  her  lap,  as  well  as  often 
indiscreetly  chastened  at  her  hand.  The  persistent 
questionings  after  the  true,  which  have  now  extended  to 
all  kinds  and  kingdoms  and  spheres  of  truth,  were  at 
first  chiefly  questionings  after  the  true  in  religion.  We 
need  not  hesitate  to  assert,  what  history  will  confirm,  — 
that  the  determined  and  fearless  spirit  of  inquiry  which 
moved  within  the  narrow  circle  of  believers  in  the  Con- 
gregational way,  both  in  England  and  in  this  country, 
has  made  no  insignificant  contributions,  by  communica- 
tion of  the  same  spirit,  not  only  to  religion,  but  also  to 
science,  politics,  and  philosophy. 

The  formal  principle  of  the  true  church  polity  is  a 
perennial  source  of  strength  and  incitement  to  the  pur- 
suit and  acquisition  of  truth.  It  is  conceded,  by  nearly 
all  even  of  those  who  do  not  regard  the  Bible  as  the 
record  of  the  divine  self-revelation  in  redemption,  that 
the  book  is  suggestive,  and  provocative  of  unstinted 
research.  Augustine^  compares  Moses  to  a  fountain 
which  doth  "  overflow  into  streams  of  clearest  truth, 
whence  every  man  may  draw  out  for  himself  such  truth 
as  he  can  upon  these  subjects ;  one,  one  truth,  another, 
another,  by  larger  circumlocutions  of  discourse."  How 
many  streams  have  indeed  flowed  from  the  one  fountain 
of  the  writings  of  Mosaism,  he  alone  is  fitted  to  judge 
who  has  compassed  all  literature.  If  thus  much  may  be 
said  of  the  streams  of  intellectual  quickening  which 
have  flowed  from  the  Hebrew  Thora,  what  shall  we  say 
of  those  which  have  flowed  from  the  writings  of  Paul 
1  Confessions,  XIT.  27. 


LECT.  n.]  THEIR   RELATIONS    TO   THEOLOGY.  71 

and  the  record  of  the  words  and  deeds  of  Jesus  ?  But 
the  formal  principle  of  Congregationalism  definitely 
aims  to  secure  all  the  intellectual  benefits  of  the  study 
of  the  Bible  to  every  individual  believer  in  Christ.  In 
this  aim  it  has  indeed,  to  a  certain  extent,  the  co-opera- 
tion of  all  the  Reformed  churches,  and  even  the  partial, 
tardy,  and  enforced  consent  of  Romanism  itself.  But  it 
is  matter  of  inherited  and  organific  principle  with  our 
church  order  to  go  beyond  all  others  in  educating  the 
soul  by  intercourse  with  the  Scriptures.  The  exegesis 
of  the  Scriptures  is,  by  our  polity,  in  a  large  and  con- 
fiding way  intrusted  to  the  community  of  believers. 
This  polity  does  not  permit  the  fallacy  of  handing  the 
Bible  into  the  lap  of  the  laity  with  the  injunction,  Use 
\t  freely,  but  be  sure  you  interpret  it  traditionally.  His- 
torically considered,  it  did  not  begin  with  the  assump- 
tion that  its  own  system  of  doctrine  and  government 
exists  by  divine  right,  and  that  therefore  the  Scriptures 
are  so  to  be  interpreted  as  best  to  enforce  that  divine 
right.  It  began  with  the  inquiry.  What,  rightly  inter- 
preted, do  the  Scriptures  teach  as  the  divine  system? 
and  with  the  promise,  That  system,  whether  it  coincide 
with  existing  systems  or  not,  shall  be  our  system.  The 
constant  endeavor  to  test  and  improve  the  present  results 
of  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  is,  of  all  intellec- 
tual activities,  among  the  most  important  and  invigor- 
ating. To  get  the  best  results  in  mental  quickening 
from  the  study  of  the  Bible,  it  must  be  studied  in  the 
Congregational  way :  it  must  be  studied,  that  is,  with 
untrammelled  but  reverent  spirit,  with  the  persuasion 
that  it  is  still  an  unexhausted  source  of  truth,  with  the 
hope  that  each  individual  student  may  make  improve- 
ments in  the  comprehension  of  that  truth,  with  supreme  . 
devotion  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  with  entirely  subor- 


72  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  n. 

dinate  adherence  to  the  word  of  men  about  the  Word 
of  God,  whether  this  human  word  has  been  expressed 
in  commentaries,  creeds,  confessions  of  faith,  or  acts  of 
council.  Not  without  reason  did  Dr.  J.  P.  Thompson 
claim  that  "  the  system  of  polity  which  leads  the  mind 
to  the  investigation  of  divine  truth,  untrammelled  by 
human  creeds  and  authorities,  gives  the  largest  hope  of 
such  a  [worthy  biblical]  theology."  ^ 

This  same  polity  also  gives  a  distinctive  impulse  to 
the  search  and  acquisition  of  truth,  by  the  manner  of 
its  systematic  theology.  The  obligation  of  formulating 
and  systematizing  divine  truths  is  placed  where  the  ob- 
ligation of  interpretation  falls.  The  local  church  must 
construct  or  choose  its  own  confession  of  faith :  the 
individual  member  of  that  church  may  do  the  same. 
The  educative  influence  of  this  constant  revision  of  the 
form  in  which  eternal  truths  are  clothed  is  not  easily 
computed.  The  unceasing  effort  to  distinguish  the 
really  true  from  the  seemingly  true,  the  essential  from 
the  important,  and  the  important  from  the  unessential, 
is  a  mental  gymnastics  than  which  there  is  none  more 
robust  and  ennobling.  This  influence  our  polity  se- 
cures for  the  laity ;  this  gymnastics  it  offers  for  the  disci- 
pline of  every  Christian.  It  even  laj^s  upon  every  local 
church,  and  every  member  of  every  local  church,  the 
obligation  to  some  such  mental  exercise.  It  was  not 
without  significance  that  our  fathers  debated  so  hotly, 
sometimes  even  so  uncharitably,  the  right  forms  of  ex- 
pressing these  high  and  holy  truths.  To  despise  the 
efforts  of  the  laity  when  acting  together  in  the  local 
church  to  formulate  the  most  abstruse  and  difficult  of 
truths,  is  to  show  ignorance   and  contempt  regarding 

1  Article  on  the  Congregational  Polity  and  a  Biblical  Theology, 
New-Englander,  August,  1860. 


LECT.  II.]  THEIR   RELATIONS    TO    THEOLOGY.  73 

the  method  of  God,  the  revealer  of  truth  in  history. 
The  layman  Grotius  did  more  for  hermeneutics  than 
many  a  priestly  or  clerical  commentator.  The  greatest 
religious  truths,  as  well  as  the  greatest  truths  of  civil 
liberty,  have  not  unfrequently  been  best  enunciated  by 
the  common  sense  and  plain  language  of  the  average 
mind.  The  same  quality  of  thought  which  can  attempt 
in  the  town-meeting  the  problems  of  civil  government 
can  also  attempt  in  the  church-meeting  the  problems  of 
divine  government.  "  We  have,"  declares  Professor 
Park  ^  in  answer  to  the  complaint  that  Congregational- 
ists  have  no  creed,  "  a  richer  collection  of  creeds  than 
is  possessed  by  any  other  body  of  Christians.  And 
these  creeds,  being  drawn  out  for  individual  churches, 
are  apt  to  be  more  carefully  and  less  superstitiously 
studied  by  the  communicants  to  whom  they  are  appro- 
priated than  are  any  human  symbols  composed  for  pro- 
miscuous use."  To  have  it  laid  upon  the  brain  and 
heart  whenever  a  new  church  is  organized,  or  received 
in  TO  fellowship,  or  disciplined  for  looseness  of  doctrine, 
M^iencver  a  pastor  is  installed,  or  suspected  of  heresy, 
to  search  yet  again  for  the  true  nature  and  valid 
'ground  of  the  profoundest  Christian  verities,  is  a  spur 
to  the  most  strenuous  endeavor.  In  numerous  other 
ways  does  the  fundamental  formal  principle  of  Con- 
gregationalism tend  to  stimulate  and  encourage  the 
rational  soul  in  its  pursuit  and  acquisition  of  the  true. 

Its  material  principle  re-enforces  the  formal  principle 
in  this  influence  upon  the  rational  soul.  Of  the  creeds 
of  the  Congregational  churches  the  author  last  quoted 
declares,  "  they  are  drawn  out  of  the  Bible  directly ; " 
and,  again,  they  are  "emblems  of  an  immediate  com- 
munion with  God." 

1  Fitness  of  the  Church,  p.  24, 


74  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  n. 

We  may  say  of  all  truth,  that  it  comes  to  the  human 
mind  as  a  gift  from  without,  as  a  self-revelation  of  the 
Being  with  whom  and  from  whom  alone  is  truth.  Pre- 
eminently true  is  this  truth  with  regard  to  the  true  in 
morals  and  religion.  In  the  conviction  of  it  we  are 
bidden,  if  we  lack  wisdom,  to  ask  of  God.  "  So  Lord, 
so  I  beseech  thee,"  prays  the  great  Church  Father,  "let 
there  spring  up  as  thou  w(  rkest,  as  thou  givest  cheer- 
fulness and  ability,  let  truth  spring  out  of  the  earth."  ^ 
"  Whom  shall  I  inquire  of,  of  whom  than  thee,  O  Lord?  " 
is  his  plea ;  "  Thou  light  and  truth  wilt  show  me,"  is 
his  persuasion.  The  French  philosopher  Malebranche 
falls  upon  his  knees  before  the  Eternal  Spirit,  and  cries, 
"  O  Lord  Jesus,  my  strength  and  my  light,  can  I  obtain 
from  thee  to  know?  "  The  German  philosopher  Trende- 
lenburg declares  that  there  is  a  "divine  lineage"  within 
us  by  virtue  of  which  we  know  what  is  true  to  think. 
It  is  the  fundamental  material  doctrine  of  the  true 
church  polity,  that  the  self-revealing,  and  guidance  into 
truth,  of  the  divine  Spirit,  are  vouchsafed  to  every 
congregation  and  to  every  believing  soul.  It  is  the 
practical  combination  of  the  two  fundamental  princij 
pies  of  such  a  polity  that  has  brought  against  Congre- 
gationalists  pre-eminently  the  same  reproach  of  ration- 
alizing the  Bible  which  those  sects  that  have  come  to 
a  period  in  religion  are  apt  to  bring  against  their  more 
progressive  brethren.  And  it  is,  indeed,  not  simply  a 
tradition,  but  also  a  fundamental  principle  of  our  order, 
to  make  large  and  confident  use  of  Christian  reason 
in  the  mterpreting  and  supplementing  of  the  Word  of 
God ;  for  Christian  reason  and  "  sanctified  common 
sense "  are  only  other  terms  for  the  consciousness  of 
the  renewed  man  as  it  is  used  by  the  Holy  Spirit  for 

1  Augustine's  Confessions,  XIII.  18,  22. 


LECT.  n.]  THEIR   RELATIONS   TO   THEOLOGY.  75 

the  revelation  of  divine  truth.  To  have  this  conscious- 
ness is  to  feel  the  dignity  of  truth,  the  personal  respon- 
sibilit}^  of  every  soul  for  its  own  dealings  with  truth, 
the  hope  and  exaltation  which  belong  to  the  human 
spirit  when  it  knows  itself  to  be  in  communion  with  the 
divine  Sj)irit  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  his  revelations 
of  truth.  To  this  combination  of  these  two  fundamen- 
tal principles  it  is  due  that  Congregationalism  has  been 
relatively  so  strong  and  rich  in  theological  thinkers ; 
for,  as  has  been  finely  said,  "  Communion  of  soul  with 
God  in  his  "Word  is  the  high  school  of  theology." 

It  would  not  be  difficult  to  trace  a  direct  and  vital 
connection  between  each  one  of  the  seven  derived  prin- 
ciples of  our  church  order  and  the  advantage  of  the 
rational  soul  of  man.  Even  the  working  of  our  polity 
in  committing  important  questions  of  doctrine  and  con- 
duct to  the  advice  of  local  councils  has  had,  according 
to  trustworthy  observation,  no  small  educating  force. 
"  The  candid  discursive  judgment,"  says  Professor  Park, 
"is  exercised  and  strengthened  by  being  trusted.  .  .  . 
The  mind  is  an  empire,  and  the  care  of  its  virtues 
is  a  more  than  regal  responsibility."  ^  All  the  prin- 
ciples of  responsible  liberty  for  the  local  church  and 
for  the  individual  believer,  which  we  have  found  to 
belong  inseparably  to  our  polity,  tend  directly  to  stim- 
ulate variety,  richness,  self-reliance,  and  originality  in 
thought.  "  He  thinks  well  who  thinks  as  God  inclines 
him."  All  the  co-ordinate  and  supplementary  princi- 
ples which  rather  emphasize  responsibility  for  the  use 
of  liberty,  and  for  communion  in  thought  and  belief, 
tend  directly  to  promote  moderation,  order,  self-control, 
and  charity  in  thought.  The  sleeping  soul  is  roused, 
incited,  and  encouraged  on  the  one  hand :  the  too  ar- 
1  Fitness  of  the  Church,  p.  11. 


76  PEIKCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.  [lect.  n. 

dent  and  irregularly  active  soul  is  limited,  chastened, 
and  quieted  upon  the  other  hand.  These  tendencies 
of  the  balanced  principles  of  our  church  order  will  be 
made  apparent  at  almost  every  step  in  our  future 
course. 

We  now  inquire  briefly,  Have  the  tendencies  of  these 
principles  had  their  legitimate  issue  in  facts?  Has  Con- 
gregationalism made  especial  and  distinctive  contribu- 
tions to  the  pursuit  and  acquisition  of  truth  by  the 
rational  soul  of  man  ?  To  scarcely  any  other  demand 
from  those  who  distrust  and  oppose  our  system  of  church 
order  can  we  give  a  more  satisfactory  and  triumphant 
answer.  This  system  has  intelligently  and  deliberately 
accomj)lished  more  for  the  development  of  thought  in 
this  country  than  any  other  one  of  the  great  contrib- 
uting influences,  we  might  almost  say  than  all  the 
other  influences  combined.  It  has  been  claimed  by 
Dr.  Magoun^  and  others  —  the  claim  is  not  a  new 
one  —  that  "  popular  education  in  this  country  .  .  .  was 
substantially  of  Congregational  origin."  The  various 
grades  and  kinds  of  intellectual  discipline ;  the  school 
in  the  house,  where,  according  to  the  declared  policy 
of  the  Synod  of  Dort,^  the  youth  were  to  be  trained 
by  their  parents ;  the  "  dame  schools,"  taught  by  women 
of  Christian  experience,  and  members  of  Congrega- 
tional churches,  in  which  an  effort  was  made  to  supple- 
ment the  deficiencies  of  family  training ;  the  academies, 
which  were  to  such  an  extent  founded  by  Congrega- 
tionalists,  and  conducted  by  Congregational  ministers ; 
the  private  instruction  in  fitting  young  men  for  college, 
which  was  so  uniformly  given   by  the  same  ministry ; 

1  Article  on  Congregationalism  and  Education,  New-Englander, 
May,  1879. 

2  This  policy  had  been  adopted  just  before  our  fathers  left  Holland. 


LEOT.  n.]  THEIR   RESULTS   IN   EDUCATION.  77 

the  Christian  colleges  which  have  grown  so  thriftily 
upon  the  plans,  funds,  and  toils  of  Congregational 
pastors  and  laymen,  and  es]3ecially  out  of  the  home- 
mission  work  of  Congregational  churches,  —  these  all 
exhibit  the  claim  as  having  a  broad  and  deep  foundation 
in  history.  An  order  of  1642  required  the  selectmen 
of  every  town  to  "  have  a  vigilant  eye  over  their  neigh- 
bors, to  see,  first,  that  none  of  them  shall  suffer  so 
much  barbarism  in  any  of  their  families  as  not  to 
teach,  by  themselves  or  others,  their  children  and 
apprentices."  ^  In  the  records  of  the  New-Haven  Col- 
ony, even  as  early  as  in  1641,  we  find  ordered,  "that 
a  free  school  be  set  up  in  this  town,  and  our  pastor, 
together  with  the  magistrates,  shall  consider  what 
yearly  allowance  is  meet  to  be  given  to  it  out  of  the 
common  stock  of  the  town,  and  also  what  rule  and 
orders  are  meet  to  be  observed  in  and  about  the  same."^ 
According  to  Bancroft,^  who,  however,  is  probably  mis- 
taken in  making  his  statement  extend  beyond  Massa- 
chusetts, the  law  of  1647  ordered,  "  in  all  the  Puritan 
colonies,"  that,  "  when  any  town  shall  increase  to  the 
number  of  one  hundred  families,  they  shall  set  up  a 
grammar-school;  the  masters  thereof  being  fitted  to 
instruct  youth  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for  the  uni- 
versity." Our  present  use  of  the  word  "  academy  "  is 
distinctively  of  Congregational  origin.  Most  of  the  great 
academies  of  New  England  owe  their  origin  to  the  reli- 
gious impulse  of  our  church  order.  Mr.  Camp,  formerly 
State  superintendent  of  schools  in  Connecticut,  ascribes 
to  this  impulse  no  fewer  than  sixteen  principal  acade- 
mies which  were  incorporated  in  that  Commonwealth, 

1  See  New-Englander,  July,  1877,  p.  478. 

2  Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  249. 
8  Cent,  ed.,  vol.  I.  p.  369;  comp.  New-Englander,  July,  1877,  p.  479. 


78  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  ii. 

most  of  them  as  late  as  the  first  thirty-five  years  of  this 
century .1  And  Dr.  Magoun  enumerates  forty-five  prin- 
cipal colleges  —  eight  in  New  England,  twenty-four  in 
the  Western  States,  seven  in  the  South,  and  six  in  for- 
eign lands  —  which  owe  their  existence,  either  wholly 
or  chiefly,  to  Congregationalists.^ 

This  enumeration  of  boasted  results  is,  however,  of 
small  service  for  our  purposes,  unless  we  ajjprehend  the 
causal  connections  which  exist  between  the  results  and 
the  involved  principles  of  church  polity.  Congrega- 
tionalism educates  as  a  matter  of  life  and  necessity. 
These  principles  make  it  a  matter  of  necessity,  and  even 
of  life  or  death  (1)  that  there  shall  be  an  educated  min- 
istry, who  shall  be  able  to  instruct  the  congregation 
from  that  point  of  view  where  reason  and  the  Bible 
unite,  and  (2)  that  every  believer  shall  be  able  to  judge 
for  himself  the  true  and  truly  rational  interpretation  of 
the  Bible,  and  so  to  test  the  teaching  of  his  instructor  in 
religious  truth.  The  first  necessity  produced  the  New- 
England  college.  The  second  necessity  produced  her 
common  schools.  The  order  of  1642  to  prevent  bar- 
barism required  "  that  all  masters  of  families  do  once 
a  week  (at  the  least)  catechise  their  children  and  ser- 
vants in  the  grounds  and  principles  of  religion."  The 
preamble  of  the  "  grammar-school  law  "  ran  thus  :  "  It 
being  one  chiefe  project  of  y*  ould  deluder,  Sathan,  to 
keepe  men  from  the  knowledge  of  y®  Scriptures,  as  in 
form''  times  by  keeping  y™  in  an  unknown  tongue,  so  in 
these  latt*^  times  by  perswading  from  y®  use  of  tongues, 
&c.  —  Ordered."  ^  The  Synod  of  1679  met  for  confer- 
ence upon  these  two  questions :    "  What  are  the  eyils 

1  Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  251. 

2  Articles  in  New-Englander,  July,  1877,  and  May,  1879. 

8  29th  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education,  p.  72. 


LECT.  n.]  THEIB   RESULTS    IN   EDUCATION.  79 

that  have  provoked  the  Lord  to  bring  his  judgments 
on  New  England?"  and  "What  is  to  be  done  that  so 
these  evils  may  be  removed? "  In  answer  to  the  second 
question,  the  synod  laments  that  the  college,  once  "  full 
of  students,"  and  the  "other  inferior  schools,"  are  in 
such  a  low  and  languishing  state ;  it  declares,  "  As  we 
desire  that  reformation  and  religion  should  flourish,  it 
concerns  us  to  endeavor  that  both  the  college  and  other 
schools  of  learning  in  every  place  be  duly  inspected  and 
encouraged. 1  "  The  interests  of  religion  and  good  lit- 
erature," declares  the  same  body  of  men,  "have  been 
wont  to  rise  and  fall  together."  On  the  hand  of  encour- 
agement, in  the  ordination  sermon  of  his  colleague.  Rev. 
Samuel  Cooper,  and  as  one  speaking  nearly  a  hundred 
years  (May  21,  1746)  after  the  enactment  of  the  "gram- 
mar-school law,"  Dr.  Benjamin  Colman,  senior  pastor, 
thanks  God  for  it  as  "a  most  wise  provision  which  the 
very  happy  kingdoms  from  which  we  derive  have  been 
sadly  wanting  in :  "  ^  he  also  desires  that  the  loss  in 
these  kingdoms  should  be  repaired  by  enacting  a  simi- 
lar law  in  them.  He  furthermore  declares  that  the 
laws  providing  for  education  have  been  the  cause  of 
New-England's  greatness,  "the  strong  basis  of  our 
happy  civil  Government  and  Church-state."  Congre- 
gationalism believes  that  converted  men  are  fit,  and  that 
they  alone  are  fit,  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  churches. 
But  it  no  sooner  sees  churches  and  a  ministry  spring- 
ing up  on  new  soil  than  it  desires  to  bestow  upon  the 
green  and  growing  crop  some  worthy  and  helpful  culti- 
vation. The  foundation  of  Harvard,  which  was  at  its 
inception   so   wholly   designed   to   furnish   a   religious 

1  See  Uliden's  New-England  Theocracy,  p.  211,  f.,  and  the  Magnalia, 
bk.  V.  part  iv. 

2  Volume  of  Sermons  in  the  Library  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society. 


80-  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.  [lect.  ii. 

education,  especially  one  adapted  to  preparation  for 
the  Congregational  ministry,  was  soon  followed  in  New 
England  by  the  foundation  of  a  college  designed  to  edu- 
cate for  converted  Indians  a  native  ministry.  One  of 
the  earliest  rules  of  Harvard  was,  "  that  every  student 
be  plainly  instructed  and  earnestly  pressed  to  consider 
well  that  the  main  end  of  his  life  and  studies  is  to 
know  God  and  Jesus  Christ."  It  is  not  strange,  then, 
that  its  undergraduates  were  expected  to  "  read  a  chap- 
ter out  of  Hebrew  into  Greek  from  the  Old  Testament 
in  the  morning,  and  out  of  English  into  Greek  from  the 
New  Testament  in  the  evening."  ^ 

From  a  clear  and  consistent  apprehension  of  the  inti- 
mate relations  which  exist  between  the  principles  of  a 
true  church  polity  and  the  intellectual  development  of 
man,  arises  the  sense  of  importance  which  Congrega- 
tionalists  have  always  attached  to  the  quality  of  teacher 
in  their  ministry,  and  to  the  element  of  the  sermon  in 
their  public  religious  services.  This  sense  of  impor- 
tance has  doubtless  been  relatively  too  much  stimulated 
and  exalted.  It  testifies,  however,  to  a  high  respect  for 
truth,  to  an  honest  purpose  to  consider  the  claims  of 
the  true.  And  it  has  effected  large  contributions  to  the 
desire  and  acquisition  of  truth  by  the  reasoning  soul 
of  man.  It  has  put  the  Congregational  ministry  upon 
their  endeavor  and  upon  their  honor  to  be  foremost  in 
original  and  profound  researches  after  religious  truth. 
It  has  also  made  them  readers  and  writers  of  books  in 
an  eminent  degree.  We  fear  they  have  not  always 
heeded  the  truth  of  the  words  spoken  by  one  of  the 
most  eminent  among  them  all :  "  But  yet  some  books 
there  be,  as  Fernelius  and  other  physicians  speak  of 
their  pills :  there  are  Pillulce  sine  quibus^  that  is,  si7ie 

1  See  Historical  Sketch  of  Congregational  Churches  in  Mass.,  p.  29. 


LECT.  n.]      THEm   RELATIONS   TO   THE   BEAUTIFUL.  81 

quibus  esse  nolo.     So  there  are  libelli  sine  quihus,  some 
books  sine  quibus  esse  jiolo^  ^ 

The  relations  wliich  exist  between  the  principles  of 
Congregationalism  and  the  mental  constitution  and 
acquirements  of  man  might  be  made  the  subject  of  an 
elaborate  treatise  rather  than  of  one  division  of  a  single 
lecture.  They  are  manifold,  intimate,  and  essential; 
for  this  church  polity  more  than  any  other  has  par- 
taken gf  the  characteristic  of  the  modern  movement 
of  thought,  has  more  breathed  the  atmosphere  in  which 
all  topics  and  species  of  human  researches  are  growing 
thriftier  and  being  more  invigorated  with  a  certain 
divine  life. 

We  consider  now,  in  the  second  place,  the  fitness  of 
the  true  church  polity  to  cultivate  the  admiration  and 
production  of  the  beautiful.  This  consideration  also 
has  to  do  both  with  certain  ideal  relations  and  with 
certain  facts  of  history.  The  genetic  relations,  by 
which  the  more  distinctive  principles  of  Congregation- 
alism tend  to  promote  that  attention  which  the  rational 
soul  bestows  upon  the  beautiful,  are  by  no  means  so 
patent  as  in  the  case  of  the  true  ;  yet  such  relations 
undoubtedly  exist. 

Truth  is  beneath  all  beauty  to  hold  it  up  in  its  arms 
for  the  contemplation  of  the  thinking  and  admiring 
soul  of  man.  What  appear  to  the  intellect  as  the 
barest  truths  of  mathematics,  physics,  and  physiology, 
underlie  all  the  appeals  made  to  the  love  of  the  beau- 
tiful by  bewitching  melody  or  moving  harmony,  by 
varied  colors  set  to  complement  or  contrast  with  one 
another,  by  soft,  symmetrical,  voluptuous  forms.  So, 
in  the  higher  and  the  highest  forms  of  the  beautiful, 

1  John  Cotton's  Address  to  the  Reader  of  John  Norton's  Orthodox 
Evangelist. 


82  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  n. 

truth  of  the  higher  and  highest  orders  of  importance 
underlies  them  all ;  for  we  must  not  fail  to  apprehend 
the  idea,  that  religion  is  able  to  use  the  beautiful,  not 
simply  as  means,  but  also  as  affording  a  picture  of  ideal 
ends.  There  is  even,  then,  more  beauty  in  the  feruth  of 
religion  itself  than  in  any  of  the  symbols  by  which  — 
beautiful  means  to  a  more  beautiful  end  as  they  may 
be  —  religion  strives  to  make  its  truth  more  compre- 
hensible and  impressive.  The  gratitude  of  a  thankful 
soul  is  more  beautiful  than  the  iii cense,  or  hymn,  or  pic- 
ture, which  symbolizes  this  gratitude.  The  inner  fact 
of  loyalty  to  Christ  is  more  beautiful  than  the  most 
graceful  genuflections,  or  fervid  rhetoric  of  self-devote- 
ment.  The  giving  of  one's  self  away  is  more  beautiful 
than  the  giving  an  elaborately  worked  altar-cloth,  or  an 
alabaster  box  of  costly  ointment.  The  free  soul  in  the 
pent-up  and  ugly  meeting-house  is  more  beautiful  than 
the  slavish  soul  in  the  most  capacious  and  gorgeous 
cathedral.  Nor  is  the  work  and  scope  pf  the  artistic 
imagination  in  matters  of  religion  by  any  means  so  re- 
stricted as  is  often  supposed.  The  effort  to  picture  and 
illustrate  the  truth  is  a  most  strenuous  and  lofty  em- 
ployment of  the  imaginative  faculty:  so  is  also  the 
effort  to  retain  in  vivid  and  vitalizing  forms  the  truth 
presented.  The  preacher  of  the  gospel,  his  eye  kindled, 
his  face  aglow  with  the  light  that  comes  through  the 
heavenward  windows  of  the  soul,  is  a  great  artist,  and 
•a  beautiful  picture  as  well.  The  divine  hand  never 
executes  a  rarer  work  of  beaut}'  than  when  it  paints  in 
bright  and  undying  colors  the  Word  of  God  upon  a 
rational  soul ;  for  Paul  on  Mars'  Hill,  Perpetua  and 
Felicitas  exchanging  the  parting  kiss,  and  Polycarp 
praising  God  at  the  stake  for  having  deemed  him 
worthy,  are  more  beautiful  in  person  than  on  canvas. 


LECT.  II.]      THEIR   RELATIONS   TO   THE   BEAUTIFUL.  83 

With  that  higher  and  more  strictly  ethical  beauty 
which  has  its  sources  in  the  true  we  find  the  principles 
of  our  church  order  in  most  intimate  and  distinctive 
relations.  Both  its  formal  and  its  material  principles 
tend  to  cultivate  the  artistic  appreciation  and  the  pro- 
duction of  this  highest  order  of  beauty.  It  is  also  a 
principle  of  Congregationalism  to  bring  before  each 
believing  soul  the  contemplation  for  itself  of  the  deep- 
est mysteries  of  our  religion ;  and,  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  mystery,  that  form  of  the  beautiful  which  we 
call  the  sublime  receives  the  highest  culture.  No  small 
ennobling  of  the  imagination  comes  from  permitting 
the  mind  freely  to  inquire  after  new  views  and  repre- 
sentations of  the  deepest,  most  incomprehensible, 
Christian  truths.  Early  Congregationalism  was,  as  we 
should  expect  from  the  obvious  tendency  of  its  princi- 
ples, in  fact,  characterized  with  a  more  intense  interest 
in  the  problems  of  religion,  an  interest  more  com- 
pletely distributed  among  the  entire  membership  of  the 
churches,  than  had  prevailed  until  then  from  the  days 
of  the  apostles.  This  interest  brought  every  soul  in 
the  congregation  of  the  Lord's  people  face  to  face  with 
the  sublimest  and  yet  most  mysterious  realities  of  the 
invisible.  The  liberty  of  gazing  steadfastly  toward  the 
infinite,  roused  by  the  indwelling  Spirit,  and  guided  by 
the  Scriptures,  a  helpful  church  polity  encourages  in 
every  rational  soul.  It  thus  incites  and  greatens  some 
of  the  noblest  exercises  of  human  imagination.  For 
"passion  and  enthusiasm,"  as  says  Dr.  Post,^  "feed  on 
mystery,  ever  opening,  ever  deepening.  They  live  in 
an  endless  vision  of  dissolving-views  that  are  ever  pass- 
ing to  aspects  deeper,  fairer,  holier,  in  the  everlasting 
unveiling  of  immortal  truth."     "  This  endless  vision  of 

1  American  Congregational  Union  Addresses,  May,  1864,  p.  71. 


84  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  ii. 

dissolving-views  "  is  the  truly  artistic  way  of  seeing  the 
otherwise  invisible :  it  is  all  the  more  highly  artistic 
when  turned  toward  divine  realities.  The  relation 
which  exists  between  these  principles  and  the  admira- 
tion and  production  of  the  beautiful,  if  we  consider  only 
that  noblest  form  of  the  beautiful,  which,  having  its 
basis  in  the  profoundest  truths,  stretches  its  aspirations 
upward  toward  those  truths  that  are  sublimest,  is  suffi- 
ciently obvious ;  not  so  the  relation  which  has  to  do 
with  beauty  merely  as  means  to  an  "end.  The  studied 
effects  of  sjnnbolism,  the  niceties  of  architecture,  the 
delights  of  taste  in  worship,  are  not  directly  provided 
for  in  the  application  of  these  principles.  To  the  culti- 
vation of  these  beauties,  when  it  makes  an  end  of  the 
means,  and  rests  in  the  joy  which  beauty  furnishes  to 
the  aesthetic  nature  of  man,  the  principles  are  rather 
opposed.  As  for  the  rest,  they  rather  recommend  that 
simplicity  in  religion  which  is  oftenest  really  good 
taste,  and  then  leave  other  details  to  be  given  by 
authorities  in  the  sphere  of  art. 

We  cannot,  however,  fail  to  remark  how  close,  sub- 
tile, and  intricate,  are  the  general  relations  which  obtain 
between  religion  and  art.  Those  relations  are  deduci- 
ble  from  the  constitution  of  man,  and  from  the  very 
being  of  God ;  for  the  source  of  truth  and  of  beauty  is 
one  source,  even  God.  He  who  gives  the  laws  of  the 
spectrum  is  the  same  One  who  illustrates  his  own  laws 
in  the  rainbow  of  the  sky.  Beautiful  symbolism,  if  it 
be  used  as  wings,  and  not  as  a  snare,  has  its  large  place 
in  religious  education  and  in  the  services  of  religion. 
Such  symbolism  Mosaism  deliberately  essayed  to  use. 
Christianity,  however,  it  is  undeniable,  began  with  new 
simplicity  the  culture  of  religion  and  the  worship  of 
God.     To  a  large  extent  the  simplicity  of  forms  shown 


LECT.  II.]      THEIR    RELATIONS   TO   THE   BEAUTIFUL.  85 

by  early  Christianity  is  perpetually  obligatory  upon  the 
Christian  Church :  the  sj^irit  of  simplicity  which  breathes 
in  all  these  forms  is,  indeed,  universally  and  perpetually 
obligatory.  The  principles  of  a  true  church  polity  justly 
insist  upon  the  recovery  of  this  spirit  of  genuine  sim- 
plicity. Having  secured  this  end,  and  after  guarding  it 
with  jealous  watchfulness,  they  do  not,  so  far  as  can  be 
discovered,  forbid  all  the  uses  of  beauty  which  really 
serve  the  other  great  ends  of  pure  religion.  Congrega- 
tionalists  do  not  violate  the  distinctive  principles  of  their 
church  order  when  they  admire  and  employ  in  worship 
all  the  beautiful  which  is  really  beautiful,  all  the  taste 
which  is  really  good  taste.  They  certainly  are  not  for- 
bidden the  use  of  all  the  fine  imagery  of  word  and 
the  symbolism  of  concrete  things  which  are  really  help- 
ful in  apprehending  religious  truth. 

The  complaint  that  our  polity  has  not  fostered  and 
given  scope  to  the  imagination,  has  been  angular,  harsh, 
and  bare,  must  be,  when  judged  by  the  facts  of  history, 
admitted  as  partially  just.  The  justness  of  the  complaint 
is  explained  by  the  very  facts  of  history  which  indicate 
it.  Our  fathers  had  a  strong  repulsion  from  those  ap- 
peals to  the  sensuous  imagination  to  which  the  ritual- 
istic churches  were  in  their  day  wont  to  resort.  Yet 
we  maintain  the  superiority,  when  compared  with  the 
best  standards  of  taste,  of  those  exercises  of  the  imagi- 
nation which  their  polity  with  its  practices  distinctively 
fostered.  This  polity  demanded  and  elicited  some  of 
the  loftiest  exercises  of  the  imagination  It  must  be  ad- 
mitted, however,  that  these  loftiest  uses  have  been  too 
largely  its  sole  uses  of  this  faculty  in  man.  In  architec- 
ture and  other  art  ministering  to  religion,  in  the  adjust- 
ments of  worship  to  the  delicate  and  sometimes  cringing 
taste  of  the  abnormally  refined,  in  the  presentation,  by 


86  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  n. 

sensuous  symbolism,  of  spiritual  truth  to  those  not  able 
to  receive  it  so  quickly  or  so  powerfully  in  any  other 
way,  Congregationalists  have  been  far  from  expert.  Per- 
haps they  have  too  often  looked  with  unfeigned  pity  or 
unmixed  scorn  upon  the  grandeur  and  grace  of  archi- 
tecture, the  harmony  of  choral  and  antiphonal  singing, 
or  even  the  genuflections  and  crossings  before  the  painted 
saint  and  sculptured  crucifix. 

There  is  nothing,  however,  in  the  principles  of  this 
polity  which  prevents  their  successful  application  to  all 
the  real  and  constitutional  wants  of  the  human  imagi- 
nation, although  these  wants  be  weakly  and  crudely  ex- 
pressed. And  certainly  our  church  architecture  may  be 
made  more  shapely  and  graceful,  our  forms  of  worship 
more  elaborate  and  studiously  cultivated,  our  obser- 
vances of  times  and  seasons  somewhat  more  conformed 
to  the  customs  of  the  Church  Catholic,  without  our 
incurring  any  real  risk  of  abandoning  principles.  In 
regard  to  all  such  matters  we  should  distinguish  between 
the  impressions  and  opinions  of  early  Congregational- 
ists and  the  permanent  principles  of  Congregationalism. 
The  impressions  and  opinions  cannot  furnish  laws  for 
the  future  development  of  the  church  life :  the  princi- 
ples, however,  must  continually  permeate  and  control 
all  that  church  life,  if  if  is  to  have  an  enduring  and 
expanding  development.  We  may  build  and  furnish 
our  meeting-houses,  conduct  our  religious  services,  and 
organize  our  forms  for  expressing  the  mutual  and  recip- 
rocal activities  of  our  churches,  differently  from  the 
fathers,  without  contravening  any  of  the  sacred  truth 
which  they  transmitted  to  us.  We  may  even  do  all 
these  things  in  ways  which  they  would  have  stoutly  re- 
sisted, and  yet  not  be  unfaitliful  to  their  sacred  trust. 
Their  opinions  and  impressions  upon  the  aesthetic  ele- 


LECT.  11.]  CHURCH   ARCHITECTURE.  87 

nients  of  worship  we  should  regard  with  tender  respect, 
but  do  not  necessarily  follow.  The  principles  of  the  true 
church  polity  are  those  of  the  New  Testament,  and  in 
following  our  ancestors  in  these  principles  we  simply 
follow  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

We  should,  therefore,  not  treat  all  proposals  aestheti- 
cally to  improve  the  manifestations  of  our  church  order 
as  necessarily  uncongregational.  With  many  of  these 
proposals  we  shall  best  deal  rather  by  showing  them  to 
be  inexpedient  or  fruitless. 

There  is  now  no  sufficient  providential  reason,  if, 
indeed,  such  a  reason  ever  existed,  why  Congregational 
meeting-houses  in  country  places  should  be  as  ugly  in 
appearance,  and  barren  in  surroundings,  as  they  possibly 
can  be,  and  why  Episcopal  chapels  in  these  same  places 
should  be  easily  discernible  on  account  of  some  inherent 
grace  of  construction,  and  beauty  of  circumstance.  Dis- 
graceful architecture  is  not  necessarily  a  means  of  grace, 
although  most  gracious  souls  have  often  worshipped 
God  in  very  ill-constructed  meeting-houses.  A  gifted 
professor  in  one  of  our  New-England  colleges  is  report- 
ed to  have  excused  himself  from  attendance  upon  the 
public  means  of  grace,  by  saying,  "  There  are  two  things 
in  that  church  I  never  can  understand  :  one  is  why  the 
roof  doesn't  fall ;  and  the  other  is  the  sermon."  The 
rationally  unintelligible  sermon  is  certainly  uncongrega- 
tional; but  the  architecturally  incomprehensible  meet- 
ing-house is  not  an  inseparable  distinction  of  our  polity. 

Neither  is  there  a  sufficient  reason  in  the  principles  of 
Congregationalism  why  we  should  not  use  such  amount 
and  kind  of  ritualism  and  concrete  symbolism  as  is  found 
in  any  given  case  really  to  aid  the  spiritual  worship  of 
God.  The  attitude  of  opposition  which  our  fathers  held 
toward  these  things  was  patent,  and,  for  the  time,  well 


88  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.  [lect.  ii. 

taken ;  but  the  principle  which  we  have  received  from 
them  regarding  their  own  practices  is  a  combination  of 
liberty  and  charity.  The  sj)irit  expresses  itself  in  forms, 
and  the  spirit  of  beauty  in  forms  of  beauty.  The  spirit 
of  beauty  in  religion  expresses  itself,  to  a  certain  degree, 
in  tasteful  forms  of  divine  worsliip.  It  is  not  contrary 
to  the  principles  of  our  church  order  to  make  proper 
use,  in  worship,  of  all  genuine  appeals  and  helps  to  the 
imagination :  it  is  contrary  to  these  principles  to  make 
it  matter  of  contention  and  division  in  the  church  of 
Christ,  whether  or  not  these  appeals  and  helps  be  used 
at  all.  It  is  a  comfort  to  the  Congregational  pastor  to 
know  that  he  will  not  be  liable  to  discipline  by  his  supe- 
rior officer  for  omissions,  emendations,  or  mistakes,  in 
ritual,  or  be  involved  in  a  quarrel  with  brethren  over 
vestments,  altar-cloths,  and  other  like  trivialities.  If 
the  local  church  desire  it,  and  are  really  edified  by  it,  the 
reading  may  be  responsive,  the  singing  antiphonal,  the 
prayers  in  part  common  to  minister  and  people,  or  in  part 
with  use  of  set  forms.  In  all  these  matters  the  minis- 
ter is  the  servant  of  the  local  church  for  its  edification : 
to  fear  or  to  force  these  matters  is  alike  unreasonable. 
When  our  ministers  and  laymen  visit  Europe,  —  and  we 
have  as  yet  no  denominational  law  forbidding  the  prac- 
tice, although,  in  view  of  its  alarming  growth,  it  might 
be  well  to  have  such  a  law  enacted,  —  they  are,  not  more 
than  others,  lacking  in  appreciation  of  artistic  church 
building  and  decoration,  or  of  what  is  beautiful  and 
sensuously  impressive  in  devotional  services.  Moreover, 
we  may  keep  as  many  sacred  feasts  as  we  can  keep  with 
real  devoutness  and  spiritual  profit,  and  as  many  saints- 
days  as  we  can  find  unimpeachable  saints  to  furnish  due 
occasion  of  edifying.  Especially  are  services  appropri- 
ate to  Easter  and  Good  Friday  founded  upon  the  most 


LECT.  II.]  CHCTRCH   ARCHITECTUEE.  89 

momentous  of  scriptural  facts,  and  in  the  most  profound 
of  Christian  experiences.  They  are  also  honored  by  the 
ancient  and  perennial  custom  of  the  Church  of  Christ 
on  earth.  We  may  fitly  wish  and  labor  that  the  obser- 
vance of  these  days  in  Congregational  churches  should 
become  universal. 

Congregational  churches  should  be  facile  and  gen- 
erous enough  to  make  room  for  all  peculiarities  of 
aesthetic  temperament  and  training.  Their  polity  is, 
beyond  all  others,  in  its  principles  comprehensive  and 
adjustible:  its  practices  should,  in  facility,  correspond 
to  its  principles.  The  aesthetic  nature  is  in  some  excel- 
lent Christians  very  exacting ;  but,  if  such  Christians  can 
dwell  with  us,  we  should  be  able  to  dwell  with  them. 
And  a  true,  wise  mother-church  uses  all  the  various 
elements  of  our  common  manhood,  not  neglecting  the 
aesthetic,  to  give  all  her  members  opportunities  for  hap- 
piness, growth,  and  labor. 

Especially  in  the  following  two  respects  should  Con- 
gregational churches  strive  with  intelligent  and  set  pur- 
pose to  discover  and  cultivate  what  is  really  both  useful 
and  artistic.  I  refer  to  church  architecture  and  to  the 
service  of  song.  The  idea  which  underlies  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Congregational  meeting-house  is  a  different 
one  from  that  which  explains  the  construction  of  the 
grand  cathedrals  of  Europe.  A  Congregational  church 
is  a  community  of  believing  souls :  a  building  in  which 
these  souls  gather  for  the  expression  and  exercise  of  all 
their  varied  family  life  is  called  a  meeting-house.  A 
temple  is  pre-eminently  designed  for  ritualistic  worship ; 
but  a  meeting-house  is  designed ;  first,  for  hearing  the 
Word ;  second,  for  congregational  worship ;  third,  for 
social  religious  intercourse.  The  very  idea  of  a  temple 
demands  that  it  shall  be  an  impressive  structure :  but 


90  PRINCIPLES   OP   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  n. 

the  idea  of  a  meeting-house  does  not  forbid  that  it  shall 
be  a  beautiful  structure.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
the  early  Congregational  meeting-houses  were  not  beau- 
tiful: as  a  matter  of  fact  also,  in  our  revulsion  from 
their  ugliness,  and  in  our  pride  of  rivalry,  we  have  given 
ourselves  to  the  building  of  temples.  The  ideal  meeting- 
house will  be  the  most  beautiful  structure  possible  for 
the  amount  of  money  which  it  is  right  to  expend  upon 
it :  it  will  also  most  perfectly  serve  the  ends  of  effec- 
tive preaching,  devout  and  tasteful  worship,  free  and 
warm  social  intercourse.  May  Heaven  send  us  a  race  of 
architects  who  shall  have  mind  enough  to  comprehend 
the  idea  of  an  artistic  and  serviceable  meeting-house, 
and  piety  enough  to  remain  faithful  to  the  idea  when 
once  comprehended ! 

As  to  our  service  of  song,  we  have  too  often  painful- 
ly vacillated  between  poor  congregational  singing  and 
poorer  quartet  performances,  between  frothy  but  fervid 
gospel  hymns,  and  elaborate  but  inappropriate  opera. 
Yet  all  the  while  Providence  has  shown  a  large  sympa- 
thy with  the  culture  of  the  beautiful  in  music  by  making 
the  services  of  religion,  and  especially  the  praises  of  the 
Redeemer,  evoke  much  of  the  brightest  melody  and 
richest  harmony  which  the  divine  art  of  music  can  show. 
There  is  abundant  material  at  hand  for  making  the  ser- 
vice of  song  in  our  Congregational  churches  both  more 
artistic  and  more  helpful.  Inasmuch  as  the  singing  is 
no  unimportant  part  of  a  stipulated  religious  service, 
the  Congregational  pastor  as  the  leader  of  the  brethren 
in  their  public  worship  should  have  a  certain  control  of 
the  choir.  In  order  to  exercise  this  control  wisely,  he 
should  liimself  be  taught  to  know  what  really  good 
music  is,  and  what  really  good  congregational  singing 
should  be.     It  seems   to   me,  therefore,  that   at   some 


LECT.  11.]  THE   SERVICE   OF   SONG.  91 

future  time  the  students  of  our  theological  seminaries 
will,  as  a  subordinate  and  yet  indispensable  part  of 
their  seminary  course,  learn  at  least  as  much  about 
sacred  music  as  is  necessary  to  make  them  skilful  and 
helpful  leaders  of  the  churches,  through  the  choristers 
and  choirs  whom  the  churches  employ  in  their  service 
of  song.  There  is,  moreover,  a  certain  large  amount  of 
graceless  and  uncongregational  lassitude,  amounting 
even,  in  many  cases,  to  disgraceful  laziness,  which  de- 
presses and  degrades  the  quality  of  our  singing.  The 
truth  is,  that  many  of  all  our  congregations,  and  nearly 
all  in  many  of  our  congregations,  attend  church  simply 
for  passive  exercise.  They  go  to  hear  the  choir  sing, 
and  the  preacher  preach.  This  disposition  is  both  cause 
and  effect  of  a  depreciation  of  the  element  of  worship. 
I  fear  that  Congregational  and  Presbyterian  churches 
in  this  country  have  been  conspicuously  afflicted  with 
the  tendency  to  make  their  meeting-houses  places  for 
passive  exercise.  The  tendency  is  eminently  uncongre- 
gational in  theory :  it  results  in  practices  which  are  as 
much  out  of  good  taste  as  they  are  insipid. 

We  conclude  this  discussion  of  the  fitness  of  Con- 
gregational principles  to  cultivate  the  admiration  and 
production  of  the  beautiful,  by  saying,  that,  while  our 
church  order  has  done  much  to  strengthen  the  higher 
uses  of  the  imagination  in  the  representation  of  what  is 
religiously  beautiful,  it  demands  and  admits  of  many 
improvements  under  the  guidance  of  a  pure  aesthetics. 

The  fitness  of  Congregational  principles  to  promote 
the  love  and  practice  of  the  good  is  a  theme  much  too 
large  to  be  even  opened  at  the  close  of  a  lecture.  The 
next  two  Lectures,  and  the  last  three  of  the  entire 
Course,  will  deal  more  specifically  with  certain  phases 
of  this  general  theme.  It  will  suffice  at  present  to  indi- 
cate a  single  line  of  thought. 


92  PEESrCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  ii. 

All  these  principles  manifestly  tend  to  quicken  and 
heighten  the  work  of  the  conscience  by  quickening 
and  heightening  the  sense  of  individual  responsibility. 
Congregationalism  places  much  weight  upon  the  con- 
science of  the  individual.  If  things  go  wrong  in  the 
churches  of  Christ,  the  principles  of  our  church  order 
lay  the  charge  of  the  wrong  at  the  door  of  every  heart. 
"  The  people  are  the  church,"  —  we  quote  again  the 
words  of  Robinson,  —  "and  to  make  a  reformed  church 
there  must  first  be  a  reformed  people."  The  obligations 
to  improve  the  creed  if  it  need  improving,  to  subscribe 
to  it  if  it  be  true,  and  to  refuse  subscription  if  it  be 
false,  to  keep  the  Church  pure  by  charity  and  by  disci- 
pline, rest  upon  every  conscience  of  its  membership : 
the7'e  also  rest  the  obligations  to  fellowship,  mutual  help- 
fulness of  Christians,  reform  of  the  state,  and  evangeliz- 
ing of  the  world.  There  should  be  no  believing  soul  so 
debased  as  to  be  stripped  of  responsible  influence  in  the 
administration  of  church  affairs:  there  should  be  no  one 
excused  from  the  exercise  of  a  good  influence.  Mani- 
festly the  normal  and  healthy  result  of  the  application 
of  such  principles  to  the  rational  soul  of  man  must  be 
greatly  to  promote  the  love  and  practice  of  the  good. 
Manifestly,  also,  it  must  require  a  considerable  strength 
in  integrity  of  Christian  character  most  successfully  to 
bear  the  stress  of  the  application.  The  cry  of  a  true 
church  polity  is  the  old  prophetic  cry :  "  Woe  to  them 
that  are  at  ease  in  Zion !  "  Every  member  of  a  Congre- 
gational church  is,  by  virtue  of  this  membership,  obli- 
gated to  the  love  and  practice  of  the  good.  Every 
member  must,  according  to  the  theory,  be  an  active 
producer  and  guardian  of  the  good.  Probably  it  is  due 
to  this  fact,  that  many  persons,  who,  in  connection  with 
other  churches,  would  never  show  any  marked  depart- 


LECT.  n.]  THEIE   RELATIONS   TO   THE   GOOD.  93 

ure  from  their  rule  of  faith,  and  standard  of  Christian 
morals,  begin  to  sink  toward  a  thoroughly  disreputable 
condition  of  Christian  life  when  they  are  put  under  the 
pressure  of  individual  responsibility  by  their  connection 
with  Congregational  churches. 

The  claim  that  the  principles  of  our  church  order 
have  a  special  and  inherent  tendency  to  suit  the  rational 
soul  of  man  is  by  no  means  a  fanciful  claim.  The  true, 
the  beautiful,  the  good,  are  for  the  Christian  man.  He 
is  to  desire  and  acquire  the  true,  admire  and  produce 
the  beautiful,  love  and  practise  the  good.  To  promote 
all  these  exercises  and  forms  for  culture  of  the  human 
soul,  the  Spirit  of  Christ  has  prepared  in  history,  and  set 
forth  in  the  New  Testament,  a  form  of  church  life. 
This  form,  when  seen  in  its  pure  principles,  is  that  for 
which  our  fathers  yearned  and  prayed  and  strove.  It 
is  bequeathed  to  us,  however  degenerate  it  may  be,  in 
sacred  trust,  for  improvement  and  for  use,  to  the  end 
that  the  souls  of  believers  may  be  made  more  like  the 
perfect  pattern  of  Christ. 


LECTURE  III. 

THE  PEESrCIPLES   OF   CONGREGATIONALISM  APPLIED  TO 
MAN    AS   A    SOCIAL   BEING. 

There  is  a  wide  difference  between  abstract  princi- 
ples and  those  same  principles  as  rendered  concrete  in 
history.  The  mind  which  investigates  historico-geneti- 
cally  any  one  of  the  more  important  and  noble  insti- 
tutions of  mankind  will  be  much  embarrassed  by  the 
discrepance  between  the  manifest  tendency  of  the  princi- 
ples underlying  the  institution  and  the  institution  itself 
as  actually  existing  in  history.  A  historic  product  can 
neither  be  understood  without  principles,  nor  construct- 
ed a  priori  on  the  basis  of  tendencies  of  acknowledged 
principles,  and  without  regard  to  patent  facts.  We 
have  seen  that  Congregationalism,  in  order  to  be  under- 
stood, must  be  investigated  in  the  historico-genetic 
method.  Its  institutions  must  be  studied,  that  is,  as 
developments  from  their  own  germinal  ideas  and  organ- 
ific  principles ;  but  they  must  also  be  depicted  as  they 
have  actually  existed  in  history.  And  just  as  the  ten- 
dencies of  all  good  and  sound  principles  have  been  often 
and  sorely  baffled  in  the  growth  of  the  whole  Christian 
Church,  so  has  it  also  happened  in  the  growth  of  our 
distinctive  church  order.  Even  the  Roman-Catholic 
Church  is  not  so  readily  confuted  by  a  clear  and  con- 
sistent but  contradictory  theory  as  it  is  condemned  by 
the  facts  of  history. 

91 


LECT.  m.]     DISCREPANCE  OF  PEINCIPLES  AND  FACTS.       95 

In  considering  Congregationalism,  then,  by  impartial 
application  of  its  principles  to  various  questions  of  fact 
and  policy,  we  may  expect  to  light  upon  many  such 
embarrassing  discrepances.  The  tendencies  of  these 
principles  are  in  themselves  easily  discernible.  But 
the  facts  of  history  often  exhibit  these  tendencies  as 
either  wholly  or  in  part  baffled ;  and  the  full  account 
of  this  baffling  is  by  no  means  easily  discernible.  The 
acknowledgment  and  account  of  these  discrepances  be- 
tween theory  and  fact  are,  however,  demanded  by  our 
method.  Nor  are  the  best  remedies  for  the  troublesome 
discrepances  between  tendencies  of  principles  and  facts 
of  experience  any  more  easily  discernible  than  the 
causes  of  the  same  discrepances.  Meanwhile,  the  de- 
mand is  imperatively,  and  to  a  certain  extent  reasona- 
bly, made  for  a  church  policy  and  for  church  institu- 
tions, which,  whether  they  can  be  manifested  in  clear 
and  sound  ideas  or  not,  will  at  any  rate  fairly  well  serve 
the  temporary  expediencies.  The  people  are  likely  to 
inquire,  —  and  to  the  people  must  be  our  final  appeal 
for  commendatory  human  judgment,  —  the  people  are- 
likely  to  inquire,  first  and  last  of  each  church  order, 
whether  or  not  it  works  well.  In  our  own  West  this 
inquiry  is  perhaps  relatively  exaggerated ;  bat  the  in- 
quiry is  not  confined  to  the  West.  What  one  well 
acquainted  with  that  region  says  of  its  "  new-comers," 
is,  to  a  certain  large  extent,  true  of  all  ]3eople  in  all 
regions :  "  They  cannot  be  expected  to  be  governed 
simply  by  the  precedents  of '  historic  Congregationalism.' 
They  seek  strength  and  efficiency.  .  .  .  They  will  not 
be  much  deterred  by  the  charge  of  Presbyterianizing,  or 
Methodizing,  or  Episcopizing."  ^    Yet  are  there  no  more 

1  Rev.  Henry  A.  Stimson,  in  The  New-Englander,  January,  1880, 
p.  126. 


96  PEIKCrPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  m. 

misleading  and  dangerous  opinions  or  practices  of  so- 
called    Congregationalism   than   many  which   arise   as 
seemingly   helpful   answers   to   this   inquiry  after   the 
merely   good   working    system.      The    Congregational 
pastor   should   always   be   raising   and    pondering   the 
question,  What,  in  my  own  church,  and  in  our  church 
order  at  large,  will,  for  the  present,  work  well  ?     But  he 
should  always  be  very  careful  what  answer  he  makes 
to  the  question.     In  guiding  him  to  the  right  answer 
the  following  considerations  should  have  a  large  influ- 
ence :    It    is,  indeed,  always  proper  to   consider  anew 
what  are  the  true  principles ;  it  is,  however,  never  safe 
to  depart  from  true  principles  in  pursuit  of  temporary 
expedienc}^;  and  time-honored  but  only  alleged  prin- 
ciples  should   only  with   great   caution   be    set   aside. 
Fertility  in  expedients,   skill  in  adapting  unchanging 
principles   to    changing   circumstances,    abundance    of 
new  rules  and  methods,  facility  in  reasonable  changes, 
—  all  these  are  at  the  very  least  as  good  and  valuable 
in  the  pastor  of  a  Congregational  church  as  elsewhere. 
But  it  is  coming  to  be  the  unmitigated  and  almost  over- 
whelming curse  of  our  business,  education,  politics,  and 
church  polit}^  that  we  have  so  few  men  whose  ideas  are 
clear  as  to  any  other  principles  than  the  one  so-called 
principle  of  so-called  success.     Congregationalism,  like 
every  other  thing  of  growth,  must   learn  to  bide  its 
time ;  not  in  ignorance,  indiiference,  stupidity,  and  ease, 
but  in  sympathy  with  that  divine  energy  of  patience  by 
which  great  ideas  are  suffered  to  remain  in  obscurity, 
and  then,  against  opposition,  and  by  price  of  human  pain, 
to  work  their  way  to  their  rational  issue  in  the  mani- 
festation of  brilliant  success.     Moreover,  the  Congre- 
gational pastor  must  learn  —  and  he  surely  will  have 
speedy  opportunity  to  learn  —  that  nothing  works  thor- 


LECT.  HI.]  THEIR   SOCIAL  EELATIONS.  97 

oughly  well  in"  this  sad  world  of  ours.  But  if  Congre- 
gationalism, as  a  matter  of  principles  variously  applied 
to  human  living  in  family,  church,  and  state,  is  to  be 
tested  by  its  real  success,  it  will  bear  the  test  better 
than  any  other  church  order  since  the  days  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Church.  For  there  has  been  for  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  vastly  more  Congregationalizing,  in  principle, 
of  other  churches,  than  there  has  been  Presbyterianiz- 
ing,  or  Methodizing,  or  Episcopizing  of  Congregational 
churches.  Congregationalism  did  not  work  thoroughly 
well  in  the  case  of  the  apostolic  churches.  Christianity 
did  not  work  thoroughly  well  in  the  case  of  the  ancient 
world.  No  form  of  church  order  has  worked  in  the 
past,  or  does  in  present  work,  thoroughly  well.  But 
Congregationalism  is,  nevertheless,  as  a  matter  of  prin- 
ciple, the  New-Testament  way  of  constituting  and  man- 
aging Christian  churches. 

These  remarks  are  introduced  in  this  connection  to 
break  the  fall  which  both  argument  and  feeling  may 
expect  as  we  pass  from  the  social  tendencies  of  Congre- 
gational principles  to  the  social  practices,  and  to  the 
influences  upon  human  social  well-being,  of  Congre- 
gational churches.  We  consider  in  this  Lecture  the 
application  of  the  principles  of  a  true  church  polity 
to  man  as  a  social  being. 

The  principles  of  such  a  polity  as  was  analyzed  and 
expounded  in  the  First  Lecture  have  an  obvious  adap- 
tation to  promote  the  social  well-being  of  man.  This 
adaptation  concerns  and  comprises  mankind  in  general ; 
but  it  most  intimately  concerns,  and  most  obviously 
comprises,  man  as  a  member  of  the  kingdom  of  redemp- 
tion, and  as  associated  with  his  fellows  in  the  life  and 
work  of  Christian  churches.  This  truth  is  made  ob- 
vious by  considering  the  relations  which  the  principles, 


98  PRESrCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect,  m. 

both  when  taken  severally  and  when  taken  together,  sus- 
tain to  the  elements  and  laws  of  man's  social  nature. 

The  basis  for  adaptation  of  the  true  church  polity  to 
human  social  well-being  is  laid  even  in  those  principles 
which  seem  to  tend  toward  the  development  of  the 
individual  rather  than  of  the  community ;  for  in  the 
widest  survey,  and  with  due  time  given  for  tendencies 
fully  to  disclose  themselves,  what  is  adapted  to  the 
best  culture  of  the  individual  is  alt^o  adapted  to  the  high- 
est social  well-being  of  the  community.  The  truth  so 
clearly  stated  by  Robert  Hall  is  in  place  in  this  con- 
nection :  "  The  duty  of  churches  originates  in  that  of 
the  individuals  of  which  they  consist ;  so  that  when 
we  have  ascertained  the  sentiments  and  principles  which 
ought  to  actuate  the  Christian  in  his  private  capacity,  we 
possess  the  standard  to  which  the  practice  of  churches 
should  be  uniformly  adjusted."  In  other  words,  the 
principles  which  should  control  social  Christian  activity 
are  the  same  as  those  which  give  the  highest  individual 
Christian  self-control.  Some  of  the  above-mentioned 
principles  —  especially  the  one  placed  second  in  our 
enumeration,  and  designated  as  the  principle  of  indi- 
vidual equality  and  self-control  —  may,  indeed,  seem  to 
tend  toward  the  development  of  excessive  oppugnancy 
and  isolation.  And  no  doubt  modern  Congregational- 
ism has  often  pushed  to  an  extreme  the  manifestation 
of  schismatic  and  separatist  tendencies.  Perhaps  it  has 
not  been  thus  guilty  more  than  popes  and  prelates,  or 
even  than  Presbyterian  elders  or  Methodist  bishops. 
Suppose,  however,  we  admit  that  the  excesses  of  the 
spirit  of  protest,  and  the  evil  practices  of  personal  self- 
assertion,  have  been  more  sadly  rife  in  New-England 
Congregationalism  than. -elsewhere  of  late  in  Christ's 
churches.     Does   it   follow  that   the  polity  is   on  the 


LECT.  III.]      SOCIAL   EFFECT   OF   INDIVIDUALTSM.  99 

whole  unsound,  unbalanced,  or  inefScient  above  others  ? 
Does  it  even  follow  that  the  principle  of  "sanctified 
individualism  "  can  be  safely  or  profitably  ruled  out  of 
the  constitution  and  discipline  of  Christian  churches  ? 

Let  us,  rather,  remember  that  only  in  a  "  sanctified 
individualism  "  can  there  be  laid  a  sound  and  perma- 
nent   basis  for  social  fellowship  among  believers,  and 
social  influence  of  the  Church  upon  the  world.     The 
indispensable  requisite  of  social  power  is  a  cultivated 
selfhood.    It  is  not  possible,  either  in  Church  or  in  State, 
to    have    efficient,  ennobling,  and   blessed   intercourse 
of  souls,  as  well  as  the  same  manner  of  influence  uj)on 
souls,  unless  the  individual  elements  of  the  intercourse 
and  influence  are  prepared  in  personal  character.     The 
constituent  and  elemental  unit  for  that  organic  moral 
and   spiritual   unity  which   belongs   to  the  Church  of 
Christ  is  the  sense  of  individual  worth  and  individual 
responsibility.    The  quality  of  the  social  whole  depends 
upon    the    quality   of   the    individual    elements.      The 
quality  of  that   great  community  which  is  called  the 
kingdom   of  God  arises  from  the  fact  that  each  indi- 
vidual member  of  this  kingdom  is  himself  a  king.     The 
social  culture  and  social  well-being  of  each  local  church 
are,  then,  primarily  dependent  upon  the  character  of  the 
individual  members  of  which  that  church  is  composed. 
The  followers  of  Christ  do,  indeed,  fight  in  companies 
and   in    line    of   battle ;    but    their  success  in  warfare 
depends,  nevertheless,  upon  the  characteristics  of  the 
individual  soldier. 

This  individualizing  tendency  of  a  single  principle 
in  the  true  church  polity,  when  unsanctified,  and  unop- 
posed by  supplementary  principles,  has  doubtless  worked 
no  little  harm  to  the  social  Avell-being  of  Congregational 
churches,  and  to  their  Christian  social  influence  upon 


100  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  m. 

the  communities  in  which  they  have  been  planted.  But 
the  valid  use  of  the  principle  as  sanctified  and  duly 
supplemented  is  true  Congregationalism.  The  feeling 
which  this  principle  permits  to  each  Christian,  that  no 
man  is  or  can  become  his  authoritative  ruler,  his  infal- 
lible teacher,  or  his  mediating  priest,  certainly  tends, 
when  unselfishly  held,  to  develop  the  practice  of  cour- 
age, self-reliance,  charity,  and  self-control.  He  who 
himself  acknowledges  no  human  master  or  rabbi  should 
surely  be  willing  to  have  his  brother  Christian  refrain 
from  calling  hun  my  master,  or  my  rabbi.  He  who, 
by  virtue  of  his  own  principle,  stands  on  an  equality  of 
self-control  with  every  brother  Christian,  should  surely 
not  desire  unequally  to  control  any  brother  Christian. 
And  he  who,  by  virtue  of  the  same  principle,  is  trained 
in  self-control,  should  surely  be  best  fitted  bravely  and 
kindly  to  exercise  all  legitimate  influence  and  control 
over  others.  The  same  principle  of  influence  over 
others,  as  growing  out  of  a  selfhood  held  under  control 
by  the  higher  self,  which  exhibits  the  best  results  in 
rightly  constituted  civil  government,  will  exhibit  the 
best  results  in  rightly  constituted  churches.  The  work- 
ing of  this  principle  tends  to  produce  a  church  which 
is  made  up  of  individuals,  every  one  of  whom  knows 
himself  to  be  the  freeman  of  the  Lord ;  every  one  of 
whom,  therefore,  acknowledges  every  other  one  also  to 
be  a  freeman  of  the  same  Lord.  And  it  is  only  upon  the 
basis  of  such  "  sanctified  individualism  "  that  the  most 
winsome,  endearing,  and  effective  social  life  amongst 
Christians  can  be  attained. 

Upon  this  same  basis  must  also  be  erected  the  social 
influence  of  the  Church  over  the  world.  This  principle 
of  "  sanctified  individualism,"  instead  of  tending  to  the 
isolation  and  alienation  of  Christian  churches  from  the 


tECT.  m.]       SOCIAL   EFFECT   OF   INDIVIDUALrSM.  101 

community  at  large,  should  tend  rather  to  the  winning 
of  it  toward  the  Church,  and  to  the  diffusion  of  the 
social  church  life  amidst  the  community.  "  The  third 
capital  immunity  belonging  to  man's  nature,"  says  Rev. 
John  Wise,^  "  is  an  equality  amongst  men,  which  is  not 
to  be  denied  by  the  law  of  nature  till  man  has  resigned 
himself,  with  all  his  rights,  for  the  sake  of  the  civil 
State,  and  then  his  personal  liberty  and  equality  is  to 
be  cherished  and  preserved  to  the  highest  degree,  as 
will  consist  with  all  just  distinctions  among  men  of 
honor,  and  shall  be  agreeable  with  the  public  good." 
And  he  adds,  in  a  passage  the  style  of  which,  like  many 
another  in  his  charming  writings,  reminds  us  of  Jeremy 
Taylor,  "  The  noblest  mortal,  in  his  entrance  on  the 
stage  of  life,  is  not  distinguished  by  any  pomp  of 
passage  from  the  lowest  of  mankind ;  and  our  life  has- 
tens to  the  same  general  mark.  Death  observes  no 
ceremony,  but  knocks  as  loud  at  the  barriers  of  the 
court  as  at  the  door  of  the  cottage.  This  equality 
being  admitted  bears  a  very  great  force  in  maintaining 
peace  and  friendship  amongst  men."  However,  in  fact, 
New-England  churches  have  given  to  themselves,  alone 
or  chiefly,  the  benefit  of  this  principle  of  equality,  the 
true  application  of  the  principle  gives  its  benefit  to 
the  entire  community.  From  the  consciousness  of  indi- 
vidual worth  Congregational  churches  have  apparently 
sometimes  argued  their  social  superiority  to  the  out- 
lying community :  from  this  consciousness  they  should, 
however,  have  argued  rather  the  equal  worth  with 
themselves  of  every  individual  soul  in  the  community. 
With  the  legitimate  use  of  the  principle  of  "  sanctified 
individualism,"  its  tendency  would  be  to  purify  and 
strengthen  the  social  life  of  the  Church,  and  to  diffuse 

1  Vindication,  p.  26,  f. 


102  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHXTRCH   POLITY.         [lect.  m. 

that  life  by  social  intercourse  with  other  churches,  and 
with  all  men  not  yet  gathered  into  the  church  state. 

The  same  course  of  reasoning  holds  equally  well 
with  regard  to  two  other  principles  of  the  true  church 
polity.  The  principle  of  progress  through  individual 
inquiry  may,  indeed,  likewise  be  pushed  to  an  extreme, 
and  so  work  harm  to  the  social  well-being  of  man. 
The  crude  forth-putting  of  new  and  strange  views 
necessarily  disturbs  men  socially.  The  path  of  the 
man  who  can  always  keep  himself,  or  at  least  appear  to 
keep  himself,  where  the  crowds  are  walking,  is  in  the 
domain  of  thoughts  most  apt  to  be  placid.  To  agree 
with  others  in  opinion,  to  conform  with  prevalent  views 
of  truth,  and  customs  of  church  life,  seems,  for  a  time 
at  least,  to  conserve  the  delights,  amenities,  and  safe- 
guards of  social  church  life.  Intercourse  between  breth- 
ren who  suspect  each  other  of  heresy,  or  of  tendencies 
to  heresy,  is  necessarily  not  so  free,  helpful,  and  mul- 
tiform. Trials  for  heresy,  counter  decisions  of  coun- 
cils, suspects  in  the  ministry  and  in  the  laity,  do  not 
seem  to  make  for  higher  social  union  of  churches,  or 
for  more  efficient  social  influence  of  the  Church  upon 
the  world.  And  all  these  things  grow  out  of  that  free- 
dom of  individual  inquiry  which  Congregationalism 
encourages :  all  these  things  are  painful  but  necessary 
steps  in  progress  through  individual  inquiry.  It  is  not 
strange,  then,  that  many  are  inclined  to  regard  this 
principle  as  tending  to  disintegration,  dissension,  and 
division  of  churches.  But,  in  the  face  of  such  an  esti- 
mate of  the  principle  of  progress  through  individual 
inquiry,  history  holds  the  insolent  but  inevitable  ques- 
tion. What,  then,  are  you  going  to  do  about  it  ?  Shall 
we  either  enforce  that  "uniformity"  which  "God  never 
required,"  or  assume  that  "  infallibility  "  which  "  God 


LECT.  m.]      SOCIAL   EFFECT   OF   INDIVTDCrALISM.  103 

never  granted  us  "  ?  It  should  by  this  time  be  regarded 
as  fairly  ascertained  that  we  cannot  repress  individual 
inquiry,  and,  moreover,  that  freedom  in  such  inquiry  is 
a  prime  requisite  of  progress.  We  may  believe,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  reason  of  the  case,  and  with  a  wide 
experience,  that  the  granting  of  this  freedom  tends  to 
conserve  rather  than  destroy  the  social  well-being  of 
Christian  churches,  as  well  as  the  best  influence  socially 
of  those  churches  upon  the  world  at  large. 

In  like  manner  the  principle  of  the  autonomy  of  the 
local  church  tends,  not  to  isolation  and  oppugnancy 
of  Christian  churches,  but  to  their  firmer  and  more 
blessed  social  union  and  social  influence.  This  is  the 
principle  of  a  sanctified  individualism  as  in  some  sort 
applied  to  individual  churches.  The  principle  provides, 
in  its  very  nature,  for  yielding  to  others  all  that  is 
claimed  for  one's  self.  It  lays  the  basis  of  the  com- 
munion of  churches  in  the  intelligent  self-control  of  the 
single  churches  which  enter  into  the  communion.  It 
secures  social  intercourse  which  shall  be  between  those 
who  are,  as  necessary  elements  of  the  intercourse,  best 
prepared  to  have  with  one  another  the  best  intercourse. 

It  need  not  be  denied  that  even  the  principle  of 
Christ's  exclusive  rulership  has  been  at  times  pressed 
into  the  service  of  unsocial  and  selfish  action  of  indi- 
viduals and  churches ;  but  surely  it  will  not  be  claimed 
by  any  Protestant  that  this  is  service  to  which  the  prin- 
ciple is  legally  bound,  or  for  which  it  has  been  divinely 
secured  to  the  Church  of  Christ.  Jesus  does  not  pro- 
claim himself  the  sole  king  of  his  people  in  order  that 
he  may  make  them  factious,  schismatic,  divisive,  and 
rebellious  under  just  human  authority.  The  rather 
does  this  principle  cultivate  the  highest  sense  of  per- 
sonal loyalty  to  Him  who  is  the  great  ruler  and  uniter 


104  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  m. 

of  the  world's  social  forces.  It  is  not  the  sense  of  per- 
sonal loyalty  to  Christ  rather  than  to  creeds,  symbols,  in- 
stitutions, authorities,  or  official  dignities  of  men,  which 
constitutes  the  spirit  of  schism.  Excessive  organized 
uniformity  under  human  rulers  or  leaders  directly  tends 
to  foster  schism.  The  attempt  to  organize  the  activities 
of  the  Church  upon  the  basis  of  mere  uniformity  always 
produces  schism.  But  a  high  degree  of  this  sense  of 
personal  loyalty  to  Christ  tends  to  unite  all  the  constit- 
uent and  elemental  units  of  his  Church  in  one  free  and 
yet  grandly-complex  organic  whole. 

There  is  no  need  to  argue  that  the  principle  of  the 
communion  of  churches  tends  to  foster  the  social  well- 
being  of  Christian  men.  This  principle  is  by  its  very 
nature  only  the  expression  in  set  form  of  all  the  great 
ideas  and  facts  which  do  both  ideally  and  actually  unite 
in  one  the  different  branches  of  the  true  vine.  The 
thought  of  the  true  church  polity  asserts  the  law  that 
Christian  churches  shall  appear  to  be  united  just  so  far 
as  they  are  really  united.  All  individuals  in  any  com- 
munity, who  have  a  loving  trust  in  Christ  as  their  divine 
Redeemer,  are  actually  united :  they  should,  then,  all 
appear  as  united.  If  they  can  be  got  to  unite  in  one 
local  church,  they  should  appear  as  thus  united.  And 
every  such  local  church  should  manifest  just  such  amount 
and  kind  of  Christian  social  union  with  every  other 
Christian  church  in  the  world  as  such  local  church 
under  the  law  of  the  gospel  is  obligated  to  have  toward 
every  other  church. 

The  working  of  the  common-law  principle  of  Congre- 
gationalism with  respect  to  the  social  well-being  of  man 
tends  simply  to  conserve  the  results  of  experience  as  to 
the  proper  methods  and  due  limits  of  social  intercourse. 

But  the  principle  of  regenerate  membership  binds  all 


LECT.  m.]  ALL   TEND   TO   SOCIAL  UNION.  105 

the  other  principles  together  in  the  social  law  and  social 
life  of  Christian  churches ;  for  this  principle  provides 
that  every  member  of  the  church  shall  be  a  true  mem- 
ber of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  earth.  The  individ- 
ual member  thus  becomes,  with  every  other  alike,  a 
child  confessed  of  God,  a  professed  believer  of  his  Son, 
our  Redeemer.  For  such  an  individual  believer  not 
to  endeavor  to  be  and  to  remain  in  the  most  helpful 
and  blessed  social  intercourse  with  other  believers  is  to 
admit  the  loss  of  that  love  for  the  brethren  which  is 
characteristic  of  his  faith ;  and  not  to  endeavor  to  influ- 
ence all  men  by  legitimate  social  methods  to  accept  the 
same  Redeemer  is  to  admit  the  loss  of  that  love  for  man- 
kind which  is  also  characteristic  of  the  same  faith. 

We  are  of  the .  opinion  that  the  Congregational 
church  order,  when  working  in  its  normal  purity  and 
cogency  toward  the  application  of  its  own  principles, 
gives,  of  all  polities,  the  freest  scope  to  those  Christian 
social  instincts  and  sentiments  which  characterize  the 
renewed  human  soul,  and  which  secure  the  social  well- 
being  of  humanity.  In  brief,  the  organization  of  the 
Christian  Church,  if  true  to  the  principles  of  its  founder, 
will  recognize  the  dignity  and  value  of  man  as  a  social 
being.  The  Christian  Church  should  be  so  organized  as 
to  make  prominent  this  recognition  in  the  very  form  and 
structure  of  its  organization.  Both  sets  of  Congrega- 
tional principles  —  those  which  apparently  tend  to  indi- 
vidualism, as  well  as  those  which  obviously  tend  to  social 
union  —  are  adapted  to  the  social  nature  and  social 
well-being  of  man.  The  former  are  designed  and 
adapted  to  produce  the  right  individual  elements  for  a 
Christian  union.  These  elements  are  individual  souls 
which  have  been  trained  to  free  and  intelligent  self-con- 
trol, and  individual  churches  which  have  been,  in  their 


106  PRINCEPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  m. 

social  life  within  themselves,  a-ccustomed  to  the  same  kind 
of  self-control.  The  latter  set  of  principles  are  designed 
and  adapted  to  bind  these  elements  together  in  common 
thought,  feeling,  and  action.  It  is  distinctive  of  our 
church  order  to  quicken  communion  by  reposing,  as 
Professor  Park  has  said,i  a  large  confidence  in  the  prac- 
tical wisdom  of  the  renewed  soul.  It  is  also  distinctive 
to  appreciate  whatever  is  right  and  noble  in  humanity, 
and  to  make  use  of  this  appreciation  for  furthering  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

I  have  claimed  that  the  principles  of  the  true  church 
polity  are  pre-eminently  adapted  to  secure  the  social 
well-being  of  man.  But  let  us  turn  from  theory  to 
facts  of  history ;  let  us  take  a  brief  survey  of  these 
facts  as  far  as  they  relate  both  to  the  social  defects  and 
to  the  excellences  of  Congregational  churches  in  the 
past.  For  Congregational  churches  have  in  the  past 
shown  most  noble  excellences,  and  most  lamentable 
defects,  in  their  social  relations  with  one  another,  with 
other  churches,  and  with  the  world  at  large. 

It  may  be  claimed,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that 
Congregationalists  have  held  the  true  idea  of  the 
Church  as  a  social  union,  and  have  also  held  a  some- 
what just  estimate  of  the  social  obligations  and  oppor- 
tunities of  the  Church  toward  mankind.  Rev.  John 
Owen,  who,  being  both  weighty  and  heavy  as  a  writer, 
might  fitly  be  called,  in  both  senses  of  the  Latin  adjec- 
tive, the  doctor  gravissimus  of  Congregationalism,  lays 
down  this  principle  in  his  celebrated  treatise,  "  Of 
Schism : "  2  "  There  is,  indeed,  in  the  institutions  of 
Christ,  much  that  answers  a  natural  principle  in  men, 
who  are  on  many  accounts  formed  and  fitted  for  so- 
ciety.    A  confederation  and  consultation  to   carry  on 

1  Fitness  of  the  Church,  etc.,  p.  9.  2  Works,  vol.  xiii.  p.  177. 


LECT.  III.]  THE   CHUECH   A    HOLY   SOCIETY.  107 

any  design  wherein  the  concernment  of  the  individuals 
doth  lie,  within  such  bounds  and  in  such  order  as  lie 
in  a  ready  way  to  the  end  aimed  at,  is  exceedingly 
suitable  to  the  principles  whereby  we  are  acted  and 
guided  as  men."  Many  of  the  most  important  defini- 
tions of  the  Church  given  by  Congregational  authors 
make  use  of  the  words  "  society  "  and  "  associated."  ^ 
"  A  holy  society  "  is  with  Davenport  a  favorite  designa- 
tion for  a  true  Christian  church.  The  terms  "  house  " 
and  "  family  "  are  claimed  by  the  same  writer  as  appro- 
priate, according  to  Scripture  (1  Tim.  iii.  15),  to  the 
same  object.^  The  Congregational  doctrine  of  a  church 
considers  it  as  a  voluntary,  and  therefore  social,  union 
of  souls  who  are  bound  together  by  the  purest  and 
tenderest  social  ties,  and  who  actually  meet  together 
socially  for  the  worship  of  God,  and  for  instruction  in 
his  Word.  The  Church,  with  its  assemblies  and  inter- 
ests, by  way  of  connection  with  the  civil  government, 
was  wont  to  absorb  very  largely  the  social  affections 
and  social  life  of  the  early  Puritans  and  Separatists ; 
for  it  is  true,  as  President  Porter  has  declared,  that 
"•  Congregationalism  most  reverently  recognized  the  au- 
thority of  its  church  and  its  officers,  and  attached  the 
highest  importance  to  church  organization  and  church 
life.  "  ^  And,  as  he  has  further  declared,  the  discipline 
of  early  Congregationalism  "attested  the  reality  and 
earnestness  of  its  church  life,  as  contrasted  with  that 
individualism,  now  current,  which  neither  cares  for  the 
communion  of  the  saints,  nor  suffers  for  the  want  of 
it."  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  this  true  con- 
ception of  the  local  church  as  a  social  union  of  believing 

1  Owen  defines  a  church  to  be  "  a  society  of  men,"  etc.     See  Work3 
xiii.  p.  174. 

2  See  Power  of  Congregational  Churches,  London,  1672,  pp.  13,  27,  55. 

3  Article  in  New-Englander,  January,  1880,  p.  101. 


108  PRINCIPLES   OF  CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect,  in. 

souls,  and  tliis  intense  interest  on  the  part  of  every 
member  in  the  whole  social  welfare  of  these  souls,  have 
by  no  means  secured  the  Congregational  churches 
against  many  defects  and  mistakes  of  social  intercourse. 
Early  Congregationalism  did  not  take  broad  and  gen- 
erous views  of  man's  social  nature  as  expressed  in  the 
church  life,  and  of  the  obligation  of  the  Church  to  rec- 
ognize, amend,  and  improve  this  social  nature.  There 
was,  probably,  too  much  tendency  to  repress  wholly, 
rather  than  to  guide,  and  use  for  noble  ends,  the  social 
impulses  of  the  socially  impulsive,  and  especially  of  that 
class  whom  the  Church  now  treats  with  warmer,  ten- 
derer, and  more  considerate  care ;  viz.,  the  young.  If 
New-England  churches  had  for  the  first  two  hundred 
years  been  able  to  give  a  more  genial  and  generous 
social  culture  to  the  young  within  their  folds,  they 
would  not  have  been  so  far  alienated  from  the  people, 
and  would  not  have  lost  to  the  world,  as  well  as  to  the 
communion  of  other  churches,  so  many  of  their  choice 
sons  and  daughters.  It  must  also  be  admitted  that 
much  of  this  discipline,  so  important  in  the  social  life 
of  the  Church,  and,  on  the  whole,  so  earnest  and  so  well 
meant,  was,  nevertheless,  the  result  of  arrogance  in 
church-officers,  or  of  meddlesome  and  contentious  ways 
in  church-members.  To  apply  suspension  or  excom- 
munication to  the  brethren  because  they  refuse  to  clear 
of  error  the  elders,  and  hang  down  their  heads  with 
an  alleged  headache,  and  smile  somewhat  superciliously 
in  the  church-meeting,  or  to  discipline  the  sisters  be- 
cause of  a  certain  looseness  of  tongue  and  haughtiness 
of  carriage,  scarcely  conduces  to  the  social  harmony  and 
effectiveness  of  the  local  church.^      The  exclusion  of 

1  For  interesting  cases  of  church  discipline  in  early  Congregational 
churches,  see  New-England  Congregationalism,  pp.  25,  ff. ;  Ezekiel  Chee- 


LECT.  m.]    SOCIAL  CUSTOMS  OF  CONGREGATIONALISM.   109 

the  excommunicated  member  from  the  worshippmg 
assembly  until  the  church  censure  was  removed  cannot 
be  too  strongly  condemned.  This  seems,  however,  to 
have  been  a  peculiarity  of  the  First  Church  of  New 
Haven  under  Davenport.^  It  is  doubtless  in  part  due 
to  the  excessive  use,  and  stately  but  unskilful  ways,  of 
early  church  discipline,  that  the  present  generation  have 
gone  to  the  extreme  of  disallowing  it,  and  shirking  its 
difficulties. 

The  respect  and  reverence  accorded  to  age,  social 
position,  official  dignity  in  Church  and  State,  and  espe- 
cially to  the  pastor,,  teacher,  and  elder  of  the  congre- 
gation, were  strong,  and,  for  the  most  part,  serviceable, 
expressions  of  the  social  life  of  early  Congregational 
■  churches.  The  Puritan  looked  upon  the  church-officer 
as  constituted  by  the  church :  once  constituted,  how- 
ever, he  was,  as  long  as  he  remained  an  officer,  clothed 
with  more  than  royal  authority,  and  deserving  of  more 
than  royal  honors.  The  social  force  of  reverence  was 
exhibited  in  a  marked  degree,  and  we  cannot  doubt, 
upon  the  whole,  in  a  wholesome  manner,  by  Congre- 
gationalists  of  one  and  two  centuries  ago.  The  custom 
of  seating  the  church  acjcording  to  the  age  or  dignity 
of  the  occupants  of  the  seats,  the  resulting  custom  of 
separating  children  and  young  people  from  their  par- 
ents, and  wives  from  their  husbands,^  the  custom  of 
rising  along  the  aisle  as  the  officer  of  the  church  passed 
to  his  place  in  the  house,  and  not  a  few  similar  customs, 
have  been,  at  best,  of  indifferent  influence  in  promoting 
the  social  well-being  of  man.  They  have  worked  to- 
gether, to  a  considerable  extent,  to  induce  formalism  in 

ver  and  Some  of  bis  Descendants,  Boston,  1879;  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon's 
History  of  the  First  Chx;rch  in  New  Haven,  Appendix  III.     The  disci- 
pline of  Mrs.  Eaton,  however,  appears  to  have  been  well  deserved. 
1  History  of  First  Church  of  New  Haven,  p.  48.        2  ibid.,  p.  48,  f. 


110  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.        [lect.  in. 

the  social  life,  and  to  cut  off  that  warm,  prompt  circu- 
lation of  young  blood  through  all  the  veins  of  Christian 
intercourse  and  Christian  activity,  which  is  so  essential 
to  the  health  and  vigor  of  the  Church. 

The  social  relations  of  the  church-officers  with  the 
people,  and  the  social  influence  of  the  former  over  the 
latter,  have,  in  the  past  time  of  our  church  order,  exhib- 
ited both  excellences  and  defects.  That  the  Congrega- 
tional ministry  have,  on  the  whole,  exercised  a  most 
healthful  and  magnanimous  social  influence  upon  their 
own  churches,  there  is  no  need  to  prove.  The  heart  of 
the  Congregational  pastor  is  rarely  the  heart  of  a  hire- 
ling. The  distinctive  tenets  of  his  church  polity,  the 
very  basis  of  principles  upon  which  he  stands  as  the  offi- 
cer of  the  local  church,  do  not  permit  him  to  regard  him- 
self as  other  than  the  loving,  faithful,  helpful  brother 
and  leader  of  the  people.  In  the  best  sense  of  the  word 
"  social,"  his  authority  must  be  wholly  the  authority  of 
a  genuine  and  Christian  social  influence.  This  has  been, 
indeed,  the  real  attitude  of  all  genuine  pastors  toward 
their  people,  under  whatever  form  of  church  polity  they 
may  have  worked,  and  by  whatever  name  —  whether 
apostle,  elder,  bishop,  or  priest  —  they  may  have  been 
called.  Chaucer,  living  in  the  surroundings  of  mediae- 
val Catholicism,  understood  the  truth  as  does  the  most 
Protestant  minister  of  America  to-day.  Indeed,  when 
the  old  English  poet  says  of  the  "  poure  Persone,"  "  full 
loth  were  him  to  cursen  for  his  tithes,"  he  sets  a  good 
example  to  that  great  apostle  of  Congregationalism, 
Cotton  Mather,  who  threatens  dire  divine  judgments 
upon  parishes  neglectful  toward  their  officers  in  the 
matter  of  salary.  Chaucer's  description  of  the  parson 
is  quite  in  advance  of  Mather's  notion  of  the  pastor. 


LECT.  ra.]  SOCIAL   QUALITY   OF   SERMOKS.  Ill 

"  Wide  was  his  parish,  and  houses  far  asonder, 
But  he  ne  left  nought  for  no  rain  ne  thonder, 
In  sLkenesse  and  in  mischief  to  visits 
The  ferresfc  in  his  parish,  moche  and  lite, 
Upon  his  fete,  and  in  his  hand  a  staf . 


And  though  he  holy  were,  and  vertuous, 
He  was  to  sinful  men  not  dispitous, 
Ne  of  his  speech  dangerous  ne  digTie, 
But  in  his  teching  discrete  and  benigne.''^ 

Many  noteworthy  examples  of  such  a  truly  Christian 
pastor  do  the  written  records  and  the  divine  unwritten 
annals  of  Congregationalism  doubtless  contain.  Yet  the 
sermons  and  other  writings  of  the  early  Congregational 
ministry,  for  whatever  reason  to  be  assigned,  do  not,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  abound  in  passages  which  show  their 
Christlike  condescension  to  the  poor,  the  spiritually 
weak,  infirm,  and  lowly.  They  are  also  faultily  lacking 
in  passages  which  bring  the  compassion  of  Jesus  Christ 
into  close  relations  with  all  the  mistakes,  follies,  and 
sins  of  the  daily  Christian  life.  It  must  also  be  ad- 
mitted, that,  in  preaching  to  impenitent  sinners  as  well 
as  to  the  penitent  sinners,  out  of  which  alone,  accord- 
ing to  the  principles  of  Congregationalism,  particular 
visible  churches  of  Christ  should  be  composed,  these 
men  of  argument,  denunciation,  and  entreaty,  too  often 
omitted  to  exhibit  the  touching  divine  sympathy  in 
Jesu^  Christ.  They,  on  the  whole,  largely  failed  to 
manifest  their  own  sympathy  with  all  the  blundering, 
mistaken,  and  blind,  as  well  as  sinful,  children  of  men. 
These  sermons  and  other  writings  are  not,  however, 
wholly  without  such  passages  as  we  now  seek;  while 
they  abound  with  other  passages  which  celebrate  the 
great  grace,  the  holy  love,  the  comforting  promises,  of 
1  Prologue  to  Canterbury  Tales. 


112  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.         [lect.  m. 

God  to  his  people.  More  perfect  than  any  other  of  these 
sermons  which  it  has  been  my  fortune  to  meet,  in  its 
recognition  of  the  obligation  of  the  Christian  pastor  to 
be  of  a  piteous  and  gentle  temper  in  his  relations  with 
men,  is,  perhaps,  the  "  Convention  Sermon "  of  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Gay,  preached  in  Boston,  May  29,  1746.^  The 
scriptural  mottoes  upon  the  title-page  of  the  printed 
sermon  are  suggestive  in  the  highest  degree.  They  are, 
"  But  he  turned  and  rebuked  them,  and  said.  Ye  know 
not  what  manner  of  spirit  ye  are  of"  (Luke  ix.  55),  and 
"Therefore  take  heed  to  your  spirit"  (Mai.  ii.  15). 
The  thesis  of  the  sermon  is  this,  and  worthy  it  is  to 
be  remembered  at  all  conventions,  councils,  synods,  and 
ordination  ceremonies :  "  That  a  dovelike  spirit  is  a 
requisite  and  eminent  qualification  of  a  gospel  minis- 
ter." The  statement  of  the  thesis  is,  indeed,  somewhat 
anticlimactic,  and  difficult  of  exact  application ;  for,  if 
this  spirit  is  absolutely  requisite,  we  may  look  upon  the 
sermon  itself  as  a  lionlike  attempt  to  expel  a  large  num- 
ber of  that  very  convention  from  the  ranks  of  the  Con- 
gregational ministry.  But  several  of  its  passages  are, 
in  the  light  of  history,  and  for  the  end  of  precept,  well 
worthy  of  quotation.  A  minister  of  such  a  dovelike 
spirit,  he  declares  (the  declaration  seeming  itself  to  be 
a  quotation,  from  a  source  not  indicated,  and  unknown 
to  me),  "is  daily  watching  over  the  weak  and  infirm; 
humbling  himself  to  perverse,  rude,  ignorant  People 
wherever  he  can  find  them ;  And  is  so  far  from  design- 
ing to  be  considered  as  a  Gentleman,  that  he  desires 
to  be  used  as  the  Servant  of  all ;  and  in  the  Spirit  of 
his  Lord  and  Master  girds  himself,  and  is  glad  to  stoop 

1  The  full  title  of  this  pamphlet  is,  A  Sermon  preached  before  the 
Ministers  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England,  at 
their  Annual  Convention  in  Boston,  May  29,  1746.  Volume  in  the 
Library  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society. 


LECT.  III.]  SOCIAL  DEFECTS.  113 

down  and  wash  any  of  their  Feet."     In  another  passage 
he  gives  information  which  is  not  likely  soon  to  become 
wholly  inapplicable  :  "  Continual  and  various  Occasion 
hath  a  Minister  for  the  Exercise  of  Meekness:   Espe- 
cially when  his  People  are  froward  and  will  strive  with 
him ;  giddy  and  forsake  him ;  penurious,  and  withhold 
Maintenance  from  him."     Again  he  declares,  "  A  dove- 
like is  a  sociable,  uniting  Spirit.     Doves  go  in  Flocks, 
resort  to  their  Windows  and  live  amicably  together." 
We  are  without  information  as  to  the  effect  of  this  fol- 
lowing thrust  underneath  the  waistcoats  of  his  brother 
ministers :  "  We  have  been  so  divided  in  our  Work  and 
Way,  so  full  of  Jealousies  and  judging,  so  apt  to  divulge 
and  pleased  to  hear  Things  tending  to  one  another's  Dis- 
grace and  Disadvantage ;  .  .  .  there  have  been  so  sharp 
Contests  between  Fellow-Laborers  and  mutual  Smitings 
of  Fellow-Servants,  such  intemperate  Zeal  and  satirical 
Virulence,  as  hath  brought  much  Smoke  and  Darkness 
into   the    Sanctuary."     It   is  certain  that  the  Congre- 
gational  ministers   of   New  England   for  more  than  a 
century  previous  to  this  discourse  had  designed  to  be, 
and  for  the  most  part  really  were,  "  gentlemen  "  in  the 
genuine  sense  of  the  word.     But  the  discourse  evinces 
the   same    truth  which  we   may  conclude    from   other 
sources    of   information,  —  that    many   of    them   were 
gentlemen  of  such  haughty  and  austere  and  self-asser- 
tive manners  as  cost  them  the  loss  of  much  social  in- 
fluence   over  men   at  large,  and  finally  over  even  the 
members  of  their  own  churches.     This  fault  and  failure 
was,  in  part,  due  to  a  certain    coldness   of  demeanor 
rather  inherent  in  New-England  civilization,  in  part  to 
the  fact  that  the  intercourse  of  these  pastors  was  so 
largely  confined  within  a  certain  grade  of  society  and 
within  provincial  limits,  and  in  part  to  that  evil  ten- 


114  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  m. 

dency  toward  ecclesiastical  exclusiveness,  self-will,  and 
excessive  self-esteem,  which  has  blighted  the  social  in- 
fluence of  numbers  of  the  clergy  in  all  ages  of  Chris- 
tendom. 

Essentially  the  same  excellences  and  defects  which 
characterize  the  Congregational  churches  of  the  past  in 
their  internal  social  relations  mark  also  their  social 
intercourse  with  the  people  at  large.  In  many  of  the 
more  important  elements  of  the  complex  social  life  of 
our  nation,  Congregationalism  has  had  a  very  distinc- 
tive and  highly  ennobling  influence.  What  it  has  done 
for  society  through  the  social  forces  of  education,  we 
have  already  briefly  reviewed.  We  shall  in  the  next 
Lecture  consider  its  work  in  society  through  the  social 
forces  of  the  civil  government.  In  and  through  the 
family,  although  its  theory  and  practice  were  not  with- 
out serious  defects,  its  influence  was,  upon  the  whole, 
most  healthful  and  invigorating.  A  writer  upon  this 
theme  truly  avows  that  it  is  the  glory  of  New-England 
Congregationalism  to  have  recognized  the  state,  the 
town,  the  school,  and  the  family,  "  as  having  been  or- 
dained of  God  as  truly  as  the  Church,"  and,  moreover, 
"as  in  some  sense  co-ordinate  with  the  Church  itself, 
and  having  in  themselves  independent  authority."  ^ 
The  Christian  benevolence  which  has  been  called  out 
by  the  principles  of  Congregationalism,  and  which  has 
made  the  benevolent  institutions  of  our  polity  con- 
spicuous for  promptness  of  origin,  skill  and  efficiency 
of  management,  generosity  in  giving,  and  unsectarian 
charity  in  disbursing,  may  be  accounted  one  of  the 
choicest  social  virtues  of  our  order. 

But,  after  all,  the  people  at  large  have  not  so  heartily 
loved  us  as  they  have  loved  others  who  have  done  far 

1  President  Porter,  New-Englander,  January,  1880,  p.  104. 


LECT.  in.]  SOCIAL   DEFECTS.  115 

less  for  them  :  they  have  grudgingly  acknowledged  our 
services,  and  often  shunned  our  company.  We  have 
been  looked  upon  somewhat  as  the  thriftless  nephew 
looks  upon  the  rich  old  uncle  who  sends  him  money  to 
pay  his  bills,  enclosed  in  a  letter  containing  abundant 
fault-finding  and  good  advice.  Congregationalism  has 
not  been  popular:  it  has  been  relatively  losing  popu- 
larity even  in  some  parts  of  New  England.  And  why  ? 
Doubtless  many  excuses  may  be  set  up  which  will  in 
part  account  for  this  fact  without  alleging  or  admitting 
fault  of  its  own.  The  causes  of  its  slow  self-propaga- 
tion will  be  elsewhere  considered.  It  is  in  place  now 
to  admit  that  certain  social  defects  have  greatly  hin- 
dered the  good  will  of  the  public  toward  our  concrete 
manifestation  of  our  principles.  As  to  the  principles 
themselves,  there  is  not  one  of  them  which  is  not 
adapted  to  draw  out  and  hold  the  good  will  of  all  fairly 
honest  men.  But  the  people  know  little  or  nothing  of 
the  social  principles  of  our  church  order :  they  mark 
with  keen  eye  and  tenacious  memory  the  social  faults  in 
its  actual  working.  They  do  not  study  Congregational- 
ism .•  they  observe  Congregationalisms.  It  is  not  Cot- 
ton's "  Keys  of  the  Kingdom,"  or  Davenport's  "  Power 
'  of  Congregational  Churches,"  from  which  the  mul- 
titude conclude  as  to  the  social  excellence  of  our  polity : 
it  is  from  the  social  bearing  of  the  pastor  and  the  dea- 
cons, and  the  more  notable  men  and  women  of  their 
own  towns. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  there  has  been  in  the  past 
a  certain  social  exclusiveness  shown  toward  the  mul- 
titudes by  New-England  Congregational  churches. 
There  has  been  a  coldness  of  bearing,  and  a  certain 
aloofness  of  intercourse,  which  has  alienated  the  hearts 
of  the  common  people.     All  this  has  doubtless  been 


116  PEINCrPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.         [lect.  ra. 

mucli  more  keenly  felt  than  deliberately  intended. 
But  all  this  is  exactly  what  the  people  will  not  tolerate, 
no  matter  with  how  much  real  virtue  of  dutiful  charity 
it  may  be  attended.  Moreover,  the  people  feel  that  all 
this  is  directly  contrary  to  the  manifestation  of  divine 
love  in  Christ.  These  practical  social  defects  of  New- 
England  Congregationalism  have  shown  themselves  in 
several  deplorable  results. 

There  has  been  a  lack  of  warm-hearted,  frank,  out- 
spoken interest  and  activities  toward  the  out-lying 
populations  of  New  England  itself.  Within  sight  of 
our  steeples,  and  sound  of  our  church-bells,  on  the  hill- 
sides which  our  fathers  made  to  resound  with  divine 
praises,  and  along  the  valleys  which  their  feet  fre- 
quented as  they  came  from  afar  to  the  house  of  God, 
Romanism,  Heathenism,  and  Atheism  have  been  gather- 
ing their  children ;  and  we  have  been  quite  too  nearly 
unmoved.  We  have  been  content,  in  most  unchristian 
apathy,  to  know  and  care  little  how  the  men  and  women 
of  the  mill  and  factory  were  disposed  toward  us,  or 
whether  they  could  or  could  not  be  induced  to  cross 
the  thresholds  of  our  churches. 

There  has  also  been  an  apparent  feeling  of  aristoc- 
racy, which  has  alienated  the  so-called  lower  orders  of 
the  people  even  within  the  original  Congregational 
communities.  The  prevalence  of  this  apparent  feeling 
is  not  due  to  superior  education  o'r  purity  of  manners  : 
it  has  rather  been  due  to  a  certain  unfortunate  heredi- 
tary tendency,  preserved  within  provincial  surround- 
ings from  needed  relief  by  more  cosmopolitan  customs 
and  more  thoroughly  Christian  ideas.^ 

1  See  an  article  of  Professor  Diman  in  North-American  Review, 
January,  1876  ;  and  an  article  of  Dr.  Noyes,  New-Englander,  July, 
1879. 


LECT.  m.]  SOCIAL  DEFECTS.  117 

There  has  also  been  prevalent  the  practical  and  even 
the  theoretical  denial  that  the  true  church  polity  will 
work,  or  ought  to  be  expected  to  work,  with  efficiency 
outside  of  the  limits  of  a  certain  social  grade  or  social 
condition.  This  denial  is  an  arch-heresy:  it  strikes  a 
fatal  blow  at  the  encouraging  belief  that  the  principles 
of  this  polity  are  divinely  adapted  to  the  social  well-being 
of  man  as  man.  And  yet  this  heretical  and  fatal  theory 
has  been  broached  in  meetings  held  to  consider  how  best 
the  gospel  shall  be,  not  suppressed,  but  disseminated, 
among  the  ignorant,  the  lowly,  the  vicious,  the  degraded. 
Convince  me  that  "  the  denomination  "  is  not  adapted  to 
men  below  a  certain  social  grade,  whether  on  account  of 
their  ignorance  or  vice,  and  you  will  please  excuse  me 
from  "  the  denomination.''''  The  rather  should  we  cling  by 
our  principles,  and  adopt  the  views  of  those  who  declare 
of  the  Christian  Church,  "  It  will  lose  the  general  hom- 
age, unless  it  exemplify  the  greatness  of  the  mind  that 
was  in  Christ  Jesus,  who,  for  the  rescue  of  our  spirit- 
ual being,  emptied  himself  of  the  divine  glory."  If  Con- 
gregational churches  cannot  be  planted  and  sustained 
wherever  Methodist  or  Roman-Catholic  churches  can, 
then,  in  those  regions  impossible  to  them,  we  may  be 
sure,  and  in  all  other  regions  we  may  be  afraid,  that 
Congregational  churches  will  cease  to  exist.  "  To  as- 
sume," said  Dr.  Post,  "  that  Congregationalism  may  not 
live  beyond  New  England  is  fatal  to  its  abiding  in  New 
England."  ^  And,  indeed,  wlien  the  Irish  have  taken 
Boston,  where  will  Congregationalism  retreat,  if  it  can- 
not make  Congregationalists  out  of  the  Irish  themselves  ? 

From  this  spirit  of  social  exclusiveness  there  has  also 
been  much  loss  to  our  churches  in  the  regions  to  which 
New-England  Congregationalists  have  migrated.  Many 
1  Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  History  oi  Connecticut,  p.  95. 


118  PEIKCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  hi. 

members  of  our  cliurches  in  the  East  have,  upon  going 
West,  connected  themselves  with  Presbyterian  and 
Episcopal  churches,  simply  because,  if  the  truth  were 
confessed,  they  could  not  endure  to  enter  a  society  the 
social  rank  of  which  appeared  to  be  relatively  lower 
than  the  one  from  which  they  had  come.  Estimated 
from  the  merely  social  point  of  view,  the  Congregational 
churches  of  other  regions  of  the  country  have  not  rela- 
tively so  liigh  a  grade  as  those  of  New  England :  there- 
fore, in  many  cases,  they  are  forsaken  of  their  own 
legitimate  children.  But,  both  in  New  England  and  in 
those  other  regions,  all  Congregationalists  should  be 
taught  that  the  regard  for  social  grading  and  social 
distinction  is  to  be  deliberately  and  decidedly  subordi- 
nated to  considerations  of  Christian  principle. 

There  has  also  been  a  great  lack  of  hearty  social  com- 
munion amongst  Congregational  churches.  The  prin- 
ciple of  the  communion  of  churches  is  most  beautifully 
adapted  to  foster  interchurch  social  life ;  but  the  prin- 
ciple has  been  thought  of  and  used  too  exclusively  as 
referring  to  the  formal  communion  of  councils,  synods, 
and  associations.  We  have  spent  more  strength  in 
determining  how  we  may  commune  with  one  another 
in  the  third  way  than  in  the  first  and  sixth  of  the 
Cambridge  Platform.^  And,  besides,  we  have  not  well 
practised  the  "  way  of  admonition  "  upon  the  theory  of 
which  we  have  spent  most  strength.  An  ancient  sermon 
mentions,  under  the  eighteenth  head  of  sins  of  which 
the  Church  of  that  time  should  repent,  "a  want  of 
sympathy  with  the  bleeding,  gasping,  groaning,  dying 
churches  of  Jesus  Christ."     It  declares  that  "  want  of 

1  See  chap.  xv.  sect.  2:  "The  communion  of  churches  is  exercised 
sundry  ways.  1.  By  way  of  mutual  care  in  taking  thought  for  one  an- 
other's welfare.  .  .  .  3.  A  third  way  ...  is  by  way  of  admonition.  .  .  . 
6.  A  sixth  way  ...  is,  in  case  of  need,  to  minister  relief  and  succor." 


LECT.  ni.]       SUMMARY   OF   SOCIAL  INFLUENCES.  119 

fellow-feeling  with  onr  brethren  in  their  affliction  is  a 
kind  of  persecution,  a  kind  of  being  accessory  to  their 
sufferings."  ^  It  has  been  a  social  defect  in  the  past 
application  of  the  principles  of  Congregationalism  that 
we  have  had  so  little  regular  and  consentaneous  expres- 
sion to  our  interest  in  one  another  as  separate  and 
autonomous  churches. 

We  conclude  this  survey  of  the  past  with  the  fol- 
lowing summary  of  results :  Congregationalists  have 
intelligently  and  firmly  held  by  the  true  theory  of  the 
Christian  Church  as  a  holy  society  of  renewed  and 
voluntarily  confederai-ed  and  associated  souls.  This  is 
an  abiding  principle  of  the  divinely  ordered  and  true 
church  polity.  It  is  only  this  theory  of  church  polity 
which  furnishes  a  secure  and  broad  basis  for  a  practical 
church  life  that  shall  be  a  most  potent  and  elevating 
influence  upon  the  social  being  of  man.  Within  the  in- 
dividual church  Congregationalists  have  shown  certain 
marked  excellences  of  practice :  they  have  shown  as  well 
certain  defects,  all  of  which  they  have  had  in  common 
with  all  Christian  churches,  some  of  which  they  have 
exhibited  in  characteristic  degree.  Outside  of  the  local 
church  they  have  shown  essentially  the  same  excel- 
lences and  defects.  These  excellences  are  of  such  an 
order  as  gives  to  Congregationalism  the  glory  of  furnish- 
ing the  great  distinctive  social  forces  of  our  American 
Chi'istian  civilization.  In  the  large  meaning  of  the 
word  "  social,"  the  social  influence  of  the  adherents  of 
New-England  Congregationalism  has  been  glorious  ;  but 
the  defects  have  been  such  as  greatly  to  obscure  and 
detract   from  this   glory.     In  the   manners   of   hearty, 

1  Sermon  of  Mr.  Case,  preached  Aug.  17,  1662,  and  found  in  a  volume 
containing  farewell  sermons  which  were  delivered  by  nonconforming 
ministers  on  the  Sunday  just  previous  to  the  taking  effect  of  the  Act  of 
Uniformity,  Library  of  Maine  Historical  Society. 


120  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  ui. 

frank,  kindly,  and  Christlike  condescension  to  the  lower 
orders  of  the  people,  they  have  far  too  often  been  con- 
spicuously lacking.  In  warm  and  helpful  social  fellow- 
ship with  one  another  as  Christian  churches,  they  have 
also  been  lacking.  Their  head  has  been  cooler  than 
their  heart  has  been  warm.  They  have  exercised  their 
great  social  influence  in  too  much  apparent  aloofness 
from  the  real  men  and  women  who  have  indirectly  been 
most  largely  blessed  by  this  influence. 

I  close  this  Lecture  with  three  suggestions  concern- 
ing the  improved  application  of  the  principles  of  a  true 
church  polity  to  the  social  well-being  of  man. 

Congregational  ministers  must  cultivate  a  larger  and 
more  efficient  service  by  means  of  all  the  various  legit- 
imate social  connections  with  all  kinds  and  classes  of 
men.  They  must  learn  .to  be  winsome  as  well  as  wise, 
facile  as  well  as  faithful,  genial  as  well  as  just.  They 
must  regard  their  work  as  lying  with  all  classes  of 
men,  and  their  church  order  as  adapted,  not  simply,  nor 
perhaps  even  best,  to  the  native  New-Englander  on 
his  own  soil,  but  also  to  all  men  on  all  soils  of  the  wide 
earth.  They  must  be  convinced  that  the  true  church 
polity,  as  known  in  its  principles,  is  adapted  to  man  as 
man,  and  to  man  everywhere  as  a  social  being.  As  a 
system  of  customs  and  rules,  of  precedents  and  au- 
thorities, as  learned  from  manuals,  and  debated  in 
ministerial  associations,  Congregationalism  is  too  often 
apprehended  to  be  a  somewhat  which  will  work  only 
under  the  most  favorable  social  conditions,  and  which, 
even  when  thus  working,  results  in  alienating  the  com- 
mon people  socially  from  its  church  life.  The  power 
to  adapt  principles  of  church  polity  to  the  exigencies 
of  various  trials  amidst  all  classes  of  society  taxes  the 
feelings   and  sentiments  of  the  pastor  and  the  people 


LECT.  m.]       MAXIMS   FOR    SOCIAL   INTERCOURSE.  121 

quite  as  severely  as  their  judgment.  "  Dearly  beloved," 
saj'S  Rev.  Mr.  Watson,^  nouconforming  minister  of  Eng- 
land, in  his  Farewell  Sermon  to  the  flock  he  was  leaving 
for  conscience'  sake,  —  "  Dearly  beloved,  there  are  two 
things  in  every  minister  of  Christ  which  are  much 
exercised,  —  his  head  and  his  heart ;  his  head  with 
labor,  and  his  heart  with  love."  This  condescending 
love  for  all  men,  and  the  manifestation  of  the  conde- 
scension in  most  inoffensive  and  winning  intercourse 
with  the  lowly  and  ignorant,  is  Congregational;  for 
it  is  something  better  than  Congregational:  it  is  like 
Jesus  Christ.  The  ambition  of  being  the  minister  of 
the  educated  and  of  the  socially  considerable  classes 
will  destroy  the  genuine  power  of  the  pastor:  it  is 
subversive  of  the  most  sacred  principles  of  our  order, 
and  it  will,  if  wide-spread  and  unchecked,  subvert  the 
institutions,  and  ruin  the  thrift,  of  Congregationalism. 
Schiller's  maxim  —  "Not  one  alone,  but  man  as  man, 
thy  brother  call "  —  would  be  for  us  the  best  social 
precept,  had  we  not  the  far  higher  and  authoritative 
injunction  of  an  apostle :  "  Mind  not  high  things,  but 
condescend  to  men  of  low  estate." 

Again:  Congregational  churches  must  give  them- 
selves to  the  propagation,  by  social  means,  of  their 
church  order,  regarded  as  a  matter  of  principle  and  as 
a  source  of  social  blessing  to  mankind.  The  obligation 
toward  the  lowly,  the  degraded,  and  vicious  of  their 
own  neighborhood,  is  one  which  Congregationalists 
share  with  all  followers  of  Jesus  Christ.  To  relegate 
that  portion  of  the  community  who  occupy  a  certain 
social  grade  to  the  Methodists,  or  the  Freewill  Bap- 
tists, or  the  Roman  Catholics,  is  a  confession  of  weak- 
ness, if  it  be  not  also  a  proof  of  an  unchristian  mind. 
1  Volume  of  Sermona  in  the  Library  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society. 


122  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  hi. 

All  grades  of  society,  and  all  nationalities,  belong  to 
Congregationalism :  its  polity  is,  when  handled  with 
sharp  decision  and  yet  with  tender  love,  adapted  to 
them  all.  I  can  testify,  from  several  years  of  personal 
experience,  that  a  united  and  successful  Congregational 
church  can  be  made  up  of  original  Congregationalists, 
Baptists,  Methodists,  Disciples,  Presbyterians,  Dutch 
Reformed,  Lutherans,  and  Roman  Catholics ;  of  Ameri- 
cans, Canadians,  Englishmen,  Scotchmen,  Irishmen, 
Dutchmen,  German,  Bohemian,  and  Scandinavian ;  of 
all  degrees  of  wealth  and  grades  of  culture. 

And  Congregational  churches  must  provide  means  for 
manifesting  their  love  toward  one  another  as  autono- 
mous and  yet  fraternizing  churches.  Money  will  not 
serve  as  the  sole  efficient  means.  Personal  attention 
must  accompany  the  pecuniary  gift.  Fellowship  meet- 
ings, friendly  visits  and  letters,  communion  in  consulta- 
tion over  common  interests,  all  the  spontaneous  as  well 
as  the  more  carefully  studied  manifestations  of  fra- 
ternal regard,  are  indispensable  means  of  social  inter- 
course amongst  Christian  churches.  One  bishop  —  a 
man  with  wise  head,  warm  heart,  and  open  hand  —  is 
worth  as  much  to  the  feeble  churches  of  any  State  as 
fifty  per  cent,  increase  in  their  home-missionary  appro- 
priation. Must  we,  then,  have  bishops  ?  By  all  means : 
let  us  have  as  many  as  can  be  found  of  such  bishops. 
Let  every  pastor  be  such  a  bishop.  And  let  a  way  be 
found,  in  accordance  with  our  principles,  to  have  and 
to  support  such  other  personal  activities,  agents  rather 
than  machiner}^,  as  shall  make  our  mutual  love  and 
common  interest  abundantly  felt. 

For  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  should  be  a  chief 
source  and  centre  of  social  forces :  it  is,  moreover,  the 
greatest  means  for  communicating  the  social  divine  life 


LECT.  in.]  THE  CHTJECH  A  CENTRE  OF  SOCIAL  FORCES.   123 

to  all  classes  of  men.  And  that  particular  form  of 
church  order,  which,  having  been  established  by  the 
apostles,  is  distinctively  adapted  to  promote  the  social 
well-being  of  man,  surely  cannot,  without  fault  and 
shame,  fail  of  actually  pronouncing  a  yet  larger  social 
benison  upon  mankind. 


LECTURE   IV. 

THE   PEINCIPLES   OF   CONGKEGATIONALISM   APPLIED 
TO   MAN   AS   A   CITIZEN.       • 

The  two  fundamental  principles  of  a  true  church- 
polity,  viz.,  the  formal  principle  and  the  material 
principle,  should  determine  the  relations  which  mem- 
bers of  Congregational  churches  sustain  to  the  civil 
government  of  which  they  are  also  members.  The 
Christian  must  inquire  of  both  the  Scriptures  and  his 
own  spiritually-enlightened  consciousness  as  to  right 
conduct  in  civil  affairs.  He  must  find  that  point  of 
union  at  which  the  principles  of  the  Bible  and  the  dic- 
tates of  reason  may  be  seen  to  coincide.  The  formal 
principle  requires  that  he  shall  not  violate  the  provis- 
ions of  the  Scriptures  in  his  relations  and  conduct  as  a 
citizen.  The  material  principle  requires  that  he  shall 
not  go  contrary  to  reason,  which,  in  the  soul  of  the 
believer,  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  throne  and  organ  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Bible  and  spiritually-illumined 
reason  must  be  so  consulted  and  interpreted  in  unison 
with  one  another,  that  the  Christian  citizen  may  obey 
both  in  the  obedience  which  he  renders  to  civil  author- 
ity, may  be  faithful  to  these  two  forms  of  his  one  spir- 
itual guide  as  a  pledge  and  impetus  to  fidelity  toward 
all  forms  of  governmental  control. 

"  The  Word  of  God  in  tiie  Scriptures  is  designed  to 

124 


LECT,  IV.]  THE   CHRISTIAK   AS   A   CITIZEN.  125 

furnish,  and  actually  does  furnish,  the  sole  objective 
authority,  not  only  for  the  doctrines,  but  also  for  the 
constitution,  worship,  and  discipline  of  the  Christian 
Church."  But  the  Christian  Church  is  in  the  world, 
and  surrounded  by  the  institutions  and  discipline  of  the 
world.  The  constitution,  worship,  and  discipline  of 
this  church,  if  not  also  its  most  abstract  statements 
of  doctrine,  must,  then,  sustain  very  important  relations 
to,  and  receive  very  potent  influences  from,  the  civil 
governments  of  the  world.  The  believer  must  be  a 
citizen.  His  voluntary  allegiance  to  the  divine  author- 
ity of  Christ  is  rendered  in  circumstances  which  compel 
him  to  an  allegiance  to  the  human  authority  of  govern- 
ors and  kings  and  magistrates.  The  application  of 
the  formal  principle  —  the  application,  that  is,  of  the 
ideas,  laws,  and  maxims  of  the  Bible  recognized  as  a 
controlling  divine  authority  —  to  the  duties  of  the  citi- 
zen, under  whatever  form  of  human  government,  is 
often  extremely  difficult  to  make.  This  application, 
under  a  republican  form  of  government,  is  in  many 
respects  always  peculiarly  difficult  to  make ;  for  this 
form  of  government  does  not  permit  the  same  amount 
of  aloofness,  non-participation,  or  passive  resistance, 
which  is  encouraged  by  other  forms  of  civil  life.  More- 
over, it  is  nowhere  contemplated  in  the  Scripture  itself; 
such  a  government  not  then  being  a  fact  of  history 
which  the  Scripture  was  in  any  case  bound  to  take  into 
the  account.  According,  then,  to  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  church  polity,  it  is  only  by  the  most  cautious 
study  of  the  leading  ideas  and  general  rules  of  Scripture 
applicable  to  the  case,  and  by  taking  as  a  guide  to  such 
study  the  indwelling  Spirit  whose  enlightenment  and 
control  are  promised  to  each  believer  in  Christ,  that  right 
views  and  ri^rht  conduct  can  be  attained  in  civil  affairs. 


126  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  iv. 

We  have  further  to  consider  that  the  true  church 
polity  should  appeal  chiefly  to  the  New  Testament  for 
light  as  to  the  construction,  worship,  and  discipline  of 
the  Christian  Church.  But  it  is  the  New  Testament 
far  more  than  the  Old  which  seems  to  leave  the  con- 
duct of  the  believer  as  a  citizen  out  of  its  notice.  Both 
Mosaism  and  Prophetism  present  the  servant  of  Jeho- 
vah in  closest  relations  with  the  civil  government. 
They  are  both,  therefore,  rich  in  maxims  and  examples, 
as  well  as  principles,  which  would  serve  for  our  most 
definite  guidance,  if  only  the  case  between  the  civil 
government  and  the  believer  were  not  so  completely 
changed.  Mosaism  exhibits  the  government  as  a  the- 
ocracy :  it  very  fully  directs  the  conduct  of  the  citizen 
under  its  peculiar  and  now  obsolete  form  of  the  theoc- 
racy. Prophetism  exhibits  the  true  servants  of  Jeho- 
vah as  in  an  almost  perpetual  conflict  with  the  civil 
authorities  to  secure  at  their  hands  a  better  recognition 
of  the  principles  and  practices  of  the  ancient  theocracy. 
It  therefore  gives  many  helps  to  those  in  every  age  who 
contend  for  the  recognition  of  God  and  of  righteous- 
ness by  the  government  under  which  they  dwell.  The 
attitude  of  Christianity  toward  the  civil  government, 
and  its  implied  instructions  to  believers  concerning 
their  conduct  as  citizens,  are,  however,  widely  differ- 
ent from  the  attitude  and  instructions  of  Mosaism  or 
Prophetism.  This  difference  is  in  part  due  to  the  sur- 
roundings of  civil  affairs,  in  the  midst  of  which  tlie  reli- 
gion of  Christ  entered  the  world,  and  in  part  to  the 
spirit  inherent  in  the  religion  itself.  The  early  Chris- 
tians could  be  expected  to  have  little  influence  as  citi- 
zens in  civil  affairs :  few  of  them  were  indeed  citizens 
at  all  in  our  modern  and  stricter  use  of  the  word.  To 
have  attempted  a  large  direct   influence  would   have 


LECT.  IV.]  THE   CHRISTIAN   AS   A   CITIZEN.  127 

been  madness,  and  would  certainly  have  resulted  in  a  ' 
complete  misunderstanding,  and  probably  in  a  perma- 
nent perversion,  of  Christianity  itself.  "  My  kingdom 
is  not  of  this  world,"  said  Jesus.  Its  rule  stands  "  in 
direct  antagonism  with  that  which  ordinarily  prevails 
in  other  kingdoms :  the  king  discountenances  all  useless 
interference  in  the  domain  of  civil  right "  ^  (Luke  xii. 
13,  14).  Paul  forbids  assailing  in  a  revolutionary  spirit 
the  institutions  of  civil  and  social  life,  and  enjoins  sub- 
mission to  the  authority  of  civil  magistrates,  even  whe«i 
they  work  wrong  upon  the  believer,  and  so  far  as  they 
do  not  compel  the  believer  himself  to  work  that  which 
is  morally  wrong. 

From  this  conception  of  the  relations  of  the  believer 
to  the  civil  government,  the  views  and  practices  of  the 
apostolic  churches  were  formed.  The  principle  of  non- 
resistance  to  civil  authority  was  largely  used :  a  certain 
aloofness  from  the  affairs  of  government  was  largely 
encouraged.  As  to  whether  a  Christian  might  engage 
in  military  service,  or  hold  civil  or  court  ofiices  under 
heathen  emperors,  their  opinions  were  divided.^  The 
believer  was  not  to  deliver  himself  for  death  at  the  call 
of  the  civil  authority ;  but  neither  was  he  to  resist  the 
government  by  force  when  it  laid  its  despotic  arm  upon 
him.^ 

Yet  the  germs  for  a  somewhat  different  view,  and 
for  a  decidedly  different  practice,  in  respect  to  the  rela- 
tions of  the  Christian  to  the  civil  authority,  are  not  indis- 
coverable  in  the  New  Testament.  That  Jesus  himself 
plainly  foresaw  great  conflicts  between  the  members  of 
his  kingdom  and  the  governments  of  earth,  we  have  his 

1  See  Van  Oosterzee's  Theology  of  the  New  Test.,  sect.  x.  2,  and 
xli.  8,  and  Schmid,  Biblische  Theologie  des  Neuen  Test.,  pp.  282,  ff. 

2  See  Neander,  Memorials  of  Christian  Life,  Bohn's  ed.,  chap.  xv. 
8  Ibid.,  chap.  xiii. 


128  PRINCIPLES   or   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  iv. 

own  word  for  believing.  He  even  represents  these  con- 
flicts as  the  inevitable  result  of  the  divine  purpose  in 
his  coming.  The  contest  in  arms  between  the  kingdom 
of  darkness  and  the  kingdom  of  light  is  inevitable ;  and 
in  that  contest  the  lives  of  his  disciples  are  necessarily 
involved.  "I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword."  ^ 
The  Church  is  only  a  part  of  one  great  whole,  the 
divine  family  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  which  must  be 
brought  into  a  harmonious  union  in  Christ.  But  this 
unifying  of  all  things  in  the  Redeemer  can  come  about 
only  as  the  final  result  of  a  mighty  conflict  between  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  and  the  kingdom  of  darkness  and 
death  under  the  leadership  of  his  great  enemy.^  It  is 
inevitable,  then,  that  disciples  shall  in  many  ways  and 
times  and  regions  of  the  world  be  forced  from  their 
attitude  of  aloofness  and  passive  resistance  into  the 
position  of  a  mortal  combat  and  life-and-death  grapple 
with  the  organized  forces  of  this  opposing  kingdom.  It 
may  even  come  about,  yes,  in  the  fulness  of  time  it 
must  come  about,  that  these  disciples  will  themselves 
be  in  position  to  constitute  and  control  the  civil  gov- 
ernment. This  they  must  do,  if  at  all,  regardful  of 
the  two  sides  of  the  one  great  truth,  "My  kingdom 
is  not  of  this  world ; "  and  yet  "  The  kingdom  of  this 
world  is  become  the  kingdom  of  our  Lord  and  of  his 
Christ." 

Among  the  secondary  or  derived  principles  of  a  true 
church  polity  it  is  obvious  that  the  first  one — viz.,  the 

1  See  Meyer's  comment  on  Matt.  x.  34:  "Die  telische  Ausdrucks- 
weise  is  uicht  bloss  redneriscli,  als  Ausdrucli  des  unausbleiblichen 
Erfolgs,  sondern  Jesus  spricht  wirklich  einen  Zweck  aus,  nieht  den  End- 
zweck  seines  Gekommenseins,  aber  einen  Mittelzivek,  indem  ihm  die 
wechselseitig  feindselige  Erregung  als  nothwendiges  Uebergangsver- 
haltniss,  welches  er  daher  nach  seiner  Messianischen  Bestimmung 
zuniichst  herzustellen  gesandt  sein  miiss,  klar  vor  Augen  steht." 

2  See  Scbmid,  Theologie  des  Neuen  Test.,  p.  575,  f. 


LECT.  IV.]        THEIR    RELATIONS   TO   CITIZENSHIP.  1 29 

principle  of  Christ's  exclusive  rulership  —  has  the  most 
intimate  and  important  relations  to  man  as  existing 
under  civil  government.  This  principle  makes  obedi- 
ence to  the  king  of  a  spiritual  kingdom  always  posi- 
tively obligatory:  it  also  forbids  obedience  to  other 
rulers  when  they  command  what  is  contrary  to  the  law 
of  this  king.  The  principle  is  very  far  indeed  from 
commending  the  overthrow  of  even  the  unchristian 
governments  under  which  believers  are  obliged  to  live. 
The  schemes  of  Nihilism  find  no  shelter  in  this  princi- 
ple. The  working  of  the  principle  is  constructive  of 
good  citizenship  under  the  existing  civil  order :  it  does 
not  seek  as  a  condition  of  construction  the  second 
coming  of  chaos  and  old  night.  And  yet  there  are  with- 
in this  principle  the  resources  of  the  most  determined, 
persistent,  and  unconquerable  resistance  to  civil  author- 
ity; for,  although  Christ  is  not  a  king  in  the  room  of 
Csesar,  he  is  indeed  a  king,  and  in  his  own  realm  of  ever- 
widening  manifestation  of  authority  he  is  exclusive  and 
supreme  king.  It  was  the  instinctive  recognition  of  the 
indomitable  resistance  offered  at  certain  points  by  tliis 
principle,  which  so  angered  the  Roman  imperialism 
against  early  Christianity.  It  was  this,  also,  which  so 
extravagantly  irritated  the  mean  spirits  of  King  Henry 
Eighth  and  his  daughter.  Queen  Elizabeth.  "  I  will  call 
the  emperor  lord,"  said  one  of  the  church  fathers,  "  but 
only  when  I  am  not  compelled  to  call  him  Lord  instead 
of  God.  Otherwise  I  am  free  before  him ;  for  I  have 
only  one  Lord,  the  almighty  and  eternal  God, — the 
same  who  is  his  Lord  also."  The  working  of  this 
principle  under  all  ordinary  exigencies  of  imperial  or 
kingly  oppression  permits  to  the  believer  in  Christ  only 
a  passive  resistance  to  the  requirements  of  the  civil 
authority. 


130  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  rv. 

But  the  application  of  this  first  one  of  the  second- 
ary principles  of  a  true  church  polity  to  the  life  of  man 
as  a  citizen  is  re-enforced  and  somewhat  modified  by 
another  principle.  The  principle  to  which  we  now 
refer  is  that  of  individual  equality  and  self-control.  In 
the  New  Testament  this  principle  is,  for  the  most  part, 
presented  in  the  forms  of  exhortation  to  duty.  It  is 
primarily  announced  in  a  manner  to  break  down,  rather 
than  raise  up,  the  haughty  will  of  man.  Its  declara- 
tion is  not  so  much.  You  are  in  the  sight  of  God  and 
in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on  an  equality  with  your 
brother,  but,  rather,  Every  member  of  this  kingdom  is 
your  brother,  and  on  an  equality  with  you.  The  course 
of  modern  history  proves,  what  we  might  infer  from 
the  very  nature  of  human  society  and  of  the  human 
mind,  that  this  principle  cannot  obtain  recognition  in 
the  Church  without  influencing  the  State  also.  Indeed, 
in  all  of  this  history  hitherto.  Church  and  State  have 
been  so  commixed,  that  the  suppression  or  the  exaltation 
of  the  principle  of  equality  in  them  both  together  has 
been  inevitable.  "  As  Christianity,"  says  Neauder,i 
"brought  into  consciousness  the  same  image  of  God  in 
all  men,  set  free  the  development  of  humanity  from 
the  narrow  boundaries  of  the  State,  subordinating  all 
to  the  same  level,  and  destroyed  the  ancient  stand-point 
of  state  religion,  so,  also,  ideas  of  religious  freedom 
and  the  rights  of  Conscience,  which  were  unknown  to 
the  ancient  world,  were  first  diffused  abroad  by  Christi- 
anity." "  It  is,"  says  Tertullian  to  the  Roman  procon- 
sul Scapula,  "  one  of  the  rights  of  man,  and  belongs  to 
the  natural  freedom  of  every  one,  to  worship  according 
to  his  convictions ;  and  the  religion  of  one  can  neither 
injure  nor  profit  others.  But  it  is  not  religion  to  em- 
1  Memorials  of  Christian  Life,  p.  35. 


LECT.  IV.]    THEIR  RELATIONS  TO  CIVIL  GOVERNMENT.    131 

ploy  force  in  religion ;  for  religion  must  be  voluntarj^, 
and  received  without  compulsion."  Those  who  are 
bound  by  principle  to  regard  one  another  as  essentially 
equal,  and  as  alike  obligated  to  self-control,  in  ecclesias- 
tical affairs,  cannot  be  expected  to  refrain  from  making 
the  very  reasonable  transition  in  the  application  cf  a 
similar  principle  to  civil  affairs.  They  are  likely  to 
reverse  the  question  of  Rev.  John  Wise,  and  inquire, 
Must  men  "adorned  with  a  double  sett  of  ennoblino; 
immunities,"  "when  they  enter  into  a  charter-part}^  to 
manage  a  trade  "  for  earth  (for  heaven,  he  writes  in 
the  proposition)  "  ipso  facto  be  clapt  under  a  govern- 
ment that  is  arbitrary  and  despotic  ?  "  Indeed  it  would 
not  be  out  of  the  way  to  say  that  the  very  modern  idea 
of  government  as  a  "  charter-party "  entered  into  by 
equals  is  of  Congregational  origin. 

These  before-mentioned  two  principles  have  an  obvi- 
ous application  and  an  important  influence  whenever 
we  consider  the  rights  and  duties  of  man  as  a  member 
of  the  civil  government.  The  remaining  five  of  the 
secondary  principles  have  only  an  indirect  application 
to  our  theme.  The  true  church  polity  binds  its  adher- 
ent to  recognize  no  other  absolute  authority  than  Jesus 
Christ :  it  both  commands  and  empowers  him  to  resist, 
to  the  last  degree  of  passive  resistance,  every  attempt 
made  by  a  hostile  civil  government  to  enforce  obedience 
to  itself  which  is  contrary  to  the  commands  of  Jesus 
Christ.  At  the  same  time  it  teaches  that  the  kingdom 
of  the  Redeemer  is  a  spiritual  kingdom,  and  therefore 
must  not  itself  usurp  the  place,  or  use  the  methods,  of 
worldly  rule.  Under  this  principle,  the  judgment  of 
the  believer  is  exercised  in  the  effort  to  discover  how 
he  may  scrupulously  and  faithfully  "render  unto  Caesar 
the  things  which  are  Caesar's,  and  unto  God  the  things 


132  PKINCIPLES   OF   CHUKCH   POLITY.         [lect.  iv. 

that  are  God's."  On  the  other  hand,  the  prmciple  of 
individual  equality  and  self-control  is  one  from  the 
beginning  almost  certainly  designed  and  destined  to 
find  expression  for  itself  in  the  State  as  well  as  in  the 
churches,  and  therefore  to  modify,  if  it  do  not  com- 
pletely overthrow,  all  governments  which  are  based 
upon  inherited  or  usurped  distinctions  of  title,  rank,  or 
official  control. 

The  narrative  of  that  work,  which  the  actual  applica- 
tion of  the  j)rinciples  of  Congregationalism  to  man  as 
a  citizen  has  wrought  in  modern  history,  has  been  fre- 
quently told.  It  would  be  both  impertinent  and  impos- 
sible to  improve  upon  this  narrative.  It  would,  however, 
render  all  the  previous  discussion  of  this  Lecture  un- 
profitable, as  well  as  defeat  its  final  purpose,  if  I  did 
not  call  your  attention  to  certain  important  points  of 
doctrine  illustrated  in  the  narrative. 

And  first  of  all  let  us  observe  how  faithfully, 
through  many  trying  years,  the  founders  of  modern 
Congregationalism  carried  out,  in  their  conduct  as  citi- 
zens, the  duty  of  passive  resistance  to  the  demands  of 
the  civil  government  for  an  allegiance  to  itself  which 
was  contrary  to  allegiance  to  Christ.  The  attitude  of 
those  persecuted  souls  toward  the  civil  authority  is  pre- 
cisely that  of  the  early  Church.  It  is  the  attitude  into 
which  the  persecuted  Church  is  thrown  by  the  prin- 
ciple of  Christ's  exclusive  rulership :  "  We  will  call 
the  king  lord,  but  only  when  we  are  not  compelled  to 
call  him  Lord,  instead  of  Christ."  "Whenever  they 
persecute  you  in  this  city,  flee  ye  into  the  other,"  was 
the  instruction  of  Jesus ;  and  so  did  John  Robinson, 
William  Brewster,  John  Cotton,  Thomas  Hooker,  John 
Davenport,  and  many  others  of  the  men  to  whom  the 
institutions    of    New-England    Congregationalism    are 


LECT.  IV.]    THEIR   MISUSE   IN   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.        133 

due.  The  writings  of  these  men  abound  with  the  just 
claim,  that  the  civil  government  has  no  right  to  compel 
believers  to  confessions  of  faith,  or  ceremonies,  or  forms 
of  instituting  and  managing  Christian  churches,  which 
are  not  according  to  the  mind  of  Christ.  It  has  been 
in  and  through  the  same  great  movement  of  thought  to 
which  they  contributed  so  much,  that  we  have,  after 
centuries,  returned  to  the  ancient  doctrine  laid  down 
by  TertuUian :  "  It  is  one  of  the  rights  of  man  to  wor- 
ship according  to  his  convictions  .  .  .  but  it  is  not  re- 
ligion to  employ  force  in  religion." 

The  charge  has  been  made  against  Congregationalists 
in  New  England,  that  they,  under  changed  circum- 
stances, reversed  the  principle  which  they  had  formerly 
advocated,  and,  having  themselves  fled  from  persecu- 
tion, proceeded  to  put  those  who  differed  from  them  to 
flight  before  their  persecution.  They  cannot  be  wholly 
vindicated  against  this  charge.  We  can  say  of  them 
that  they  were,  upon  the  highway  of  nations  in  prog- 
ress toward  the  principle  of  civil  and  religious  liberty, 
in  advance  of  all  others.  We  can  show  how  they  jus- 
tified the  intervention  of  the  civil  arm  on  the  ground 
that  the  offences  to  be  punished  were  duly  cognizable 
as  civil  affairs.  But  the  same  plea  may  be  made  for  the 
Roman  emperors  in  their  persecution  of  the  early  Chris- 
tians, and  for  the  English  kings  and  queens  in  their 
persecution  of  nonconforming  subjects :  indeed,  an  addi- 
tional claim  of  justice  might  be  brought  forward  in  the 
latter  case,  on  the  ground  that  the  headship  of  Church 
and  of  State  was  by  law  invested  in  the  same  person. 
The  Parliament  of  England,  by  the  Act  of  1534,  con- 
ferred upon  the  civil  ruler,  Henry  VIIL,  the  title  of 
"  sole  and  supreme  head  of  the  Church  of  England," 
and  gave  him  the  right  of  final  decision  in  matters  of 


( 


134  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.         [lect.  iv. 

doctrine.  And  the  Parliament  of  1559  re-establislied 
by  its  act  the  ecclesiastical  supremacy  of  the  crown, 
and  authorized  the  Queen,  Elizabeth,  to  constitute  a 
High  Commission  Court  for  the  trial  and  punishment 
of  all  errors,  heresies,  divisions,  abuses,  and  contempt  in 
ecclesiastical  affairs.  If  the  headship  of  the  State,  as 
belonging  to  all  the  citizens,  may  constitute  itself  a 
headship  of  the  Church,  why  may  it  not  also  as  belong- 
ing to  king  or  queen  ?  We  should,  indeed,  also  recog- 
nize the  great  embarrassments  to  which  our  fathers 
were  subject  from  the  uncertain  and  capricious  relations 
in  which  they  were  forced  to  live  toward  the  mother- 
country.  They  did  many  things  as  citizens,  for  fear  of 
evil  report  in  England,  or  to  guard  against  the  possi- 
bility of  usurped  control  and  influence  from  England 
in  their  own  churches,  which  otherwise  they  would  not 
have  done. 

By  no  one  way,  however,  and  not  by  all  ways  com- 
bined, can  we  clear  them  from  defects,  weaknesses,  and 
even  sins,  in  their  adjustment  of  the  relations  which 
should  exist  between  their  churches  and  the  civil  gov- 
ernment. Originally,  in  the  institutions  of  New  Eng- 
land, this  principle  of  Christ's  exclusive  rulership  was 
pushed  to  an  extreme  which  destroyed  the  principle  it- 
self. The  State  was  to  be  constituted  out  of  the  Church, 
was,  indeed,  to  be  the  other  side  of  the  Church:  the 
saints  were  to  rule  so  much  of  the  earth  as  had  been 
granted  them  by  their  letters-patent.  But  seyerely  did 
their  principle,  when  thus  pushed,  and  striking  against 
V  the  wall  of  human  rights  in  civil  government,  re-act 
>  upon  them.  One  part  of  the  Church  State  arrayed  itself 
^  against  another  part;  or  the  Church  State  interfered 
with  the  churches  to  the  damage  of  the  interests  of 
both. 


LECT.  IV.]     THEIE   MISUSE  IN   CrVTL   GOVERNMENT.        135 

The  Cambridge  Platform  declares,^  not  only  that  blas- 
phemy, but  also  that  "  heresy,  ventmg  corrupt  and  per- 
nicious opinions  that  destroy  the  foundation,"  "  are  to 
be  restrained  and  punished  by  civil  authority."  It  also 
declares  -  that  "  if  any  church,  one  or  more,  shall  grow 
schismatical,  rending  itself  from  the  communion  of  other 
churches,  or  shall  walk  incorrigibly  or  obstinately  in 
any  corrupt  way  of  their  own,  contrary  to  the  rule  of 
the  Word,  in  such  case  the  magistrate  is  to  put  forth 
his  coercive  power  as  the  matter  shall  require."  The 
preceding  article  of  the  platform  declares,  indeed,  that 
"  erroneous  opinions  not  vented  "  are  not  "  object  of  the 
power  of  the  magistrate."  In  a  document  entitled  "  An 
Abstract  of  the  Laws  of  New  England,"  which  was,  ac- 
cording to  Uhden,^  printed  in  London  in  1635,  heresy  is 
declared  to  be  "  the  stubborn  maintenance  of  a  destruc- 
tive error  which  subverts  the  foundations  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion : "  if  connected  with  attempts  to  seduce 
others,  it  shall  be  punished  with  death  as  a  species  of 
idolatr}^  We  may,  therefore,  perhaps  venture  to  con- 
sider the  clause  in  the  platform  which  speaks  of  "  vent- 
ing corrupt  and  pernicious  opinions  that  destroy  the 
foundation,"  as  giving  a  quasi  definition  of  heresy.  Its 
punishment  might,  then,  in  certain  cases,  seem  justifiable 
on  the  principle  that  the  foundations  of  the  civil  gov- 
ernment and  of  the  Christian  religion  were,  in  the  minds 
of  our  fathers,  identical:  the  subversion  of  the  one 
would  involve  the  subversion  of  the  other.  The  subse- 
quent conduct  of  the  General  Court  shows  their  disposi- 
tion to  magnify  their  office  as  regulators  of  the  religious 
opinions  and  practices  of  men,  although,  on  complaint 
being  made,  they  are  ready  to  resort  to  another  principle 

1  Chap.  xvii.  8.  2  Chap.  xvii.  9. 

8  New-Englaiid  Theocracy,  p.  68,  note. 


136  PKINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  iv. 

in  explanation  of  their  acts.  For  instance,  the  law 
passed  by  this  court  in  1644  against  Anabaptists  is 
specifically  directed  against  such  as  "have  held  the  bap- 
tizing of  infants  unlawful,"  and  threatens  punishment 
upon  those  who  "  either  openly  condemn  or  oppose  the 
baptizing  of  infants,  or  go  about  secretly  to  seduce 
others  from  the  approbation  or  use  thereof;"  but  the 
vindication  offered  for  the  law  in  1646  alleges  the  trou- 
ble and  hazard  in  civil  life  occasioned  by  Familistical 
and  Anabaptistical  spirits,  and  gives  liberty  of  judgment 
to  those  who  live  "  without  occasioning  disturbance." 

The  admonition  of  the  General  Court  to  the  church 
of  Salem  for  their  invitation  to  Roger  Williams  is  an  in- 
stance of  the  exercise  of  the  authority  of  the  civil  arm 
as  rec(ignized  in  the  Cambridge  Platform.  The  appli- 
cation of  the  principle  there  laid  down  was,  however,  in 
practice  quite  indefinite ;  and  even  the  history  of  the 
case  of  the  church  in  Salem  is  not  altogether  clear. 
This  same  court  did,  nevertheless,  dare  most  flagrantly 
to  violate  more  than  one  principle  of  Congregationalism 
when  in  1651  it  fined  in  a  heavy  sum  the  church  at 
Maiden  for  having  chosen  a  minister  without  the  agree- 
ment of  neighboring  churches,  and  without  permission 
from  the  government.^  This  same  authority  forbade  the 
North  Church  in  Boston  to  choose  one  Powell  for  their 
pastor.  In  Connecticut,  as  well  as  in  Massachusetts, 
many  violations  of  the  principles  of  Congregationalism, 
by  interference  of  the  civil  authority  in  affairs  of  the 
churches,  might  be  brought  in  review.  In  the  former 
State  the  law  of  1742  for  the  suppression  of  enthusiasm 
forbade,  under  heavy  penalty,  any  ordained  or  licensed 
preacher  to  preach  or  exhort  within  the  limits  of  any 
parish  without  the  consent  of  the  pastor  and  the  major- 
1  See  Uhden,  New-England  Theocracy,  p.  163. 


LECT.  IV.]     THEIE    MISUSE   IN   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.         137 

ity  in  that  parish.  This  law  worked  great  oppression 
to  the  North  Church  of  New  Haven;  for,  attempting  to 
preach  in  that  cliurch,  Rev.  Samuel  Finley  (afterward 
president  of  Princeton  College)  was  arrested,  and  car- 
*ried  out  of  the  Colony  as  a  vagrant.^ 

No  little  mischievous  interference  of  the  government 
with  the  synods  and  councils  of  the  churches  also  re- 
sulted from  the  partial  disregard  of  this  principle  of 
the  true  church  polity.  The  principle  definitely  asserts 
that  Christian  churches  have  no  ruler  but  Christ,  and 
therefore  that  no  church  can  rightly  use  the  civil  arm 
to  rule  another  church,  nor  can  all  other  churches  com- 
bined use  that  arm  to  rule  a  single  weakest  church. 
Of  such  interference  the  case  of  the  General  Court 
with  the  church  at  Hartford  affords  several  notable 
instances. 

As  to  the  persecution  by  the  civil  power  of-  those 
who  were  not  members  of  the  early  Congregational 
churches,  whether  in  the  form  of  express  penalties,  or 
civil  disabilities,  or  compulsion  to  pay  taxes  for  the  sup- 
port of  these  churches,  it  does  not  concern  my  theme 
to  speak.  The  various  narratives  of  these  acts  of  per- 
secution make  a  mingled  impression  of  admiration  and 
shame.  The  reasons  offered  by  apologists  for  these 
acts  are  quite  sufficient  to  save  our  hearty  veneration 
for  the  actors,  but  not  sufficient  to  command  our  ap- 
proval of  the  acts.  The  excuses  are  historically  valid; 
but  morally  they  do  excuse.  The  faults  of  our  fathers 
are  in  some  respects  all  the  more  lamentable,  because 
they  are  not  instances  of  oppression  from  an  ungodly 
world  upon  the  Christian  Church,  but  rather  of  Chris- 
tian   churches   organizing   themselves   into    oppressive 

1  See  Contributions  to  the   Ecclesiastical  History  of   Connecticut, 
p.  119,  f. 


138  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.         [lect.  iv. 

forms  of  civil  government.  They  are  not  assaults  of 
Antichrist  upon  the  Church :  they  are  rather  mistakes 
anjd  weaknesses  of  the  saints  themselves.  In  brief,  we 
have  to  acknowledge  that  Congregationalism  in  New 
England  departed  from  its  own  thoroughly  Christian 
position  of  acknowledging  Christ's  exclusive  rulership 
in  both  forms  of  the  principle  ;  that  is,  both  in  the  form 
of  yielding  to  others  their  own  control  under  Christ, 
and  in  that  of  offering  a  merely  passive  resistance  to 
the  control  of  an  unchristian  state.  The  departure  was 
a  departure  of  the  Congregational  churches,  and  the 
resultiug  usurpations  of  the  civil  government  were  the 
outcome  of  the  acts  of  these  churches. 

It  would,  however,  be  but  simple  justice,  if  it  were 
not  also  the  inclination  of  filial  reverence,,  to  admit 
that  almost  all  these  violations  of  this  principle  were 
occasioned  by  mistaken  application  of  principle.  Every 
application  of  the  principles  of  any  church  polity  to 
man  as  a  citizen  rests,  of  course,  upon  the  assumption 
that  the  interests  of  civil  and  of  religious  affairs  are 
most  intimately  united.  Now,  no  other  men  ever  be- 
lieved more  tl\oroughly  than  did  the  early  Congrega- 
tionalists  of  New  Englaud  that  the  foundations  of 
good  civil  government  are  in  religion ;  that  the  State  as 
well  as  the  Church  is  subject  of  divine  law  and  divine 
control ;  and  that  good  citizens  are  of  necessity  ser- 
vants of  God.  "  Two  things  in  the  founders  of  New 
England,"  says  Uhden,i  "-particularly  strike  the  ob- 
server,—  their  devotion  to  the  commonweal  as  citi- 
zens, and  to  the  interests  of  the  Church  as  Christians. 
They  regarded  themselves,  not  as  individual  fugitives 
from  oppression  and  persecution,  but  rather  as  confed- 
erates in  a  political  association,  and  members  of  a 
1  New-England  Theocracy,  p.  135. 


LECT.  IV.]    THEm   MISUSE   EST   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.        139 

religious  community."  It  is  from  the  point  of  view 
furnished  by  this  true  principle  of  an  intimate  connec- 
tion between  the  civil  government  and  the  religious  life 
of  the  citizens,  that  they  proceeded,  even  in  the  course 
of  their  violations  of  other  true  principles.  From  this 
point  of  view  the  General  Court  at  Boston  regarded 
its  functions,  when.  May  18,  1631,  it  provided,  that  for 
"the  future  no  one  shall  be  admitted  to  the  freedom 
of  this  body  politic,  unless  he  be  a  member  of  some 
church  within  the  limits  of  the  same."  In  the  orcrani- 
zation  of  all  the  Colonies  there  is  apparent  the  work  of 
men  whose  citizenship  is  the  expression  of  their  reli- 
gion. The  State  was,  therefore,  simply  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Church  in  civil  form.  In  the  New-Haven 
Colony  the  "  foundation  men "  of  the  State  were  the 
pillars  of  the  Church.  In  the-  meeting  in  Mv.  New- 
man's barn,  at  which  the  foundations  of  both  State  and 
Church  in  the  Colony  were  laid,  it  was  voted  that 
"free  burgesses  shall  be  chosen  out  of  the  church- 
members, —  they  that  are  in  the  foundation-work  of 
the  church."  ^  This  action  was  taken  on  the  principle 
laid  down  by  Cotton,  and  practised  by  the  Colonies  ^of 
New  England :  "  It  is  better  that  the  commonwealth  be 
fashioned  to  the  setting-forth  of  God's  house,  which  is 
his  Church,  than  to  accommodate  the  Church  frame  to 
the  civil  State."  ^  Or,  as  Hooker  was  fond  of  quoting 
from  Cartwright,  "  No  man  fashioneth  his  house  to  his 
hangings,  but  his  hangings  to  his  house." 

In  view  of  the  great  difficulty,  already  spoken  of, 
which  is  met  in  the  attempt  to  apply  the  formal  prin- 
ciple of  Congregationalism  to  the  details  of  citizen- 
ship, our  fathers  felt  no  dismay.     They  supplemented 

1  History  of  the  First  Church  iu  New  Haven,  Discourse  II. 

2  Letter  to  Lord  Say  and  Seal :  Hutchinson  1,  497. 


140  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  iv. 

the  legitimate  deductions  from  principles  of  the  New 
Testament  by  copious  use  of  laws,  usages,  examples, 
and  injunctions  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  planters 
of  New-Haven  Colony  organized  their  civil  State  upon 
the  principle  that  "  the  Scriptures  do  hold  forth  a  per- 
fect rule  for  the  direction  and  government  of  men  in 
all  duties,  as  well  in  families  and  commonwealth,  as  in 
matters  of  the  Church."  ^  In  1644  the  General  Court 
of  this  Colony  ordered,  "  that  the  judicial  laws  of  God 
as  they  were  delivered  by  Moses,  and  as  they  were  a 
fence  to  the  moral  law,  being  neither  typical  nor  cere- 
monial, nor  having  any  reference  to  Canaan,  shall  be 
accounted  of  moral  equity,  and  generally  bind  all 
offenders,  and  be  a  rule  to  all  the  courts  in  this  juris- 
diction in  their  proceedings  against  offenders,  till  they 
be  branched  out  into  particulars  hereafter.  "  ^  So  far  as 
these  and  similar  acts  and  enactments  of  early  Congre- 
gationalists  show  their  confidence  in  those  principles 
of  civil  righteousness  that  are  exhibited  in  the  Word  of 
God,  they  cannot  be  too  highly  commended.  But  so 
far,  on  the  other  hand,  as  they  show  an  undoubted  ten- 
dency to  confound  things  different,  a  strong  disposition 
to  drive  public  morality  as  an  affair  of  church  control 
with  a  high  hand,  and  a  plainly  mistaken  point  of  view 
with  respect  to  the  method  in  which  the  laws  of  the 
Old  Testament  have  their  applicability  to  modern  life, 
they  are  worthy  of  regret  and  disavowal. 

The  Congregational  principle  of  individual  equality 
and  self-control  in  church  affairs  has  been  the  most 
important  factor  in  the  modern  development  of  religious 
and  civil  liberty.  The  testimony  to  this  truth,  in  re- 
sjject  both  to  the  work  of  the  Puritans  in  Old  England, 

1  History  of  the  First  Church  in  New  Haven,  p.  20,  f. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  29.    A  statement  and  defence  of  this  action. 


LECT.  IV.]     CONTEIBUTIONS   TO   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.      141 

and  to  that  of  New-England  Congregationalists,  is  un- 
equivocal and  competent.  I  quote  at  second  hand  a 
few  sentences  which  are  said  to  have  come  from  dis- 
tinguished pens  and  lips.^  "  To  this  sect,"  says  Hume 
of  the  Puritans,  "the  English  owe  the  whole  freedom 
of  their  constitution.  "  Lord  Brougham  affirms  of  the 
Independents,  "  They,  with  whatever  ridicule  some  may 
visit  their  excesses,  or  with  whatever  blame  others,  — 
they,  with  the  zeal  of  martyrs  and  with  the  purity  of 
the  early  Christians,  the  skill  and  courage  of  the  most 
renowned  warriors,  achieved  for  England  the  free  con- 
stitution which  she  now  enjoys."  "  As  for  toleration," 
declares  Lord  King,  "or  any  true  notion  of  religious 
liberty,  or  any  general  freedom  of  conscience,  we  owe 
them  not  in  the  least  degree  to  what  is  called  the 
Church  of  England.  On  the  contrary,  we  owe  all 
these  to  the  Independents  in  the  time  of  the  Common- 
wealth, and  to  Locke,  their  most  enlightened  and  illus- 
trious disciple."  "  To  Congregationalism,"  says  David 
Hale,  "  we  doubtless  owe  the  free  and  happy  structure 
of  our  political  institutions."  Bancroft  speaks  of  the 
civil  compact  formed  by  the  Plymouth  Colony  as 
"the  birth  of  popular  constitutional  liberty;"  and  of 
the  Pilgrims  as  the  "  men  who,  as  they  first  trod  the  soil 
of  the  New  World,  scattered  the  seminal  principles  of 
Republican  freedom  and  national  independence."  It 
was  the  opinion  of  Pitt,  "  that,  if  the  Church  of  England 
had  been  efficiently  established  in  the  North-American 
Colonies,  they  would  never  have  refused  allegiance  to 
the  British  crown."  "These  village  Hampdens  who 
came  up  to  Boston  year  after  year,  and  voted  solidly 

1  See  Church  Polity  of  the  Pilgrims,  p.  64,  f.  and  Appendix  F;  Amer- 
ican Congregational  Union  Addresses,  May,  1854,  p.  13,  f ;  Congrega- 
tional Tracts,  No.  1,  said  to  be  written  by  Rev.  Z.  K.  Hawley,  p.  13,  f. 


142  PBINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  iv. 

to  disobey  the  royal  orders,  were  the  offspring  of  town- 
meetings  and  the  Puritan  church  system,"  so  it  is  truly 
asserted  by  a  writer  in  "  The  North-American  Review." 
It  is  said  that  Jefferson  derived  his  "best  plan  of  gov- 
ernment for  the  American  Colonies  "  from  the  church- 
meetings  of  a  church  conducted  upon  Congregational 
principles. 

Moreover,  the  different  prime  elements  of  our  free 
.  civil  government  as  it  now  exists  may  be  more  or  less 
directly  traced  to  the  working  in  church  affairs  of  this 
principle  of  individual  equality  and  self-control.  The 
written  constitution  formed  by  the  consultation  of  citi- 
zens in  their  representatives,  and  deriving  all  its  au- 
thority, under  God,  from  the  consciences  and  wills  of 
the  people,  is  one  such  element.  The  first  written 
constitution  in  the  history  of  nations  was,  as  Dr.  Leon- 
ard Bacon  has  shown,^  the  direct  offspring  of  the  ear- 
liest Congregational  churches  of  Connecticut.  The 
preamble  of  this  constitution  declares,  that,  "  where  a 
people  are  gathered  together,  the  Word  of  God  requires, 
that,  to  maintain  the  peace  and  union  of  such  a  people, 
there  should  be  an  orderly  and  decent  government 
according  to  God."  To  maintain  "  the  discipline  of  the 
churches,  which,  according  to  the  truth  of  said  gospel, 
is  now  practised  among  us,"  is  set  forth  as  one  princij)al 
intent  of  this  constitution.  The  rights  of  civil  self- 
government  are  thus  derived  from  the  same  source  from 
which  are  derived  the  rights  of  the  self-government  of 
individual  Christians  and  of  Christian  churches. 

The  town-meeting  is  another  prime  factor  in  our  civil 
free  government.  The  town-meeting  was,  however, 
primarily  modelled  after  the  church-meeting ;  not  unfre- 

1  Centennial  Papers  of  the  General  Conference  of  Connecticut,  p. 
150,  f. 


LECT.  IV.]     CONTRIBUTIONS    TO   CIVIL   GOVERNMENT.      143 

quently  it  was  only  the  cliurch-meetiug  with  its  face 
turned  toward  civil  affairs.  "  The  town  corporation," 
declares  Dr.  Joseph  S.  Clark,i  "  is  the  offspring  of  Pu- 
ritan Congregationalism."  It  is  to  be  traced  to  the 
polity  of  our  fathers,  who  uniformly  adapted  the  new 
plantation  on  a  grant  of  land  to  the  size  suitable  for 
common  public  worship  of  the  inhabitants.  These 
small  free  republics  are  the  germinal  elements  out  of 
which  grew,  both  in  idea  and  in  fact,  the  greater  repub- 
lics, and  the  common  republican  government  which  now 
covers  them  all. 

The  element  of  popular  suffrage  is  another  prime  ele- 
ment of  our  free  civil  state.  But  "  it  is  an  unquestiona- 
ble fact,"  says  the  same  author  just  quoted,  "that  the 
right  of  popular  suffi\age  found  its  way  to  these  shores 
from  the  north  of  England,  through  Holland,  in  Mr. 
Robinson's  congregation,  and  crept  into  our  civil  gov- 
ernment through  the  pre-established  usage  of  the  Con- 
gregational churches."  ^ 

We  must  also  duly  notice  the  fact  that  the  writings 
and  preaching  of  Congregational  pastors  in  New  Eng- 
land, as  well  as  their  influence  upon  magistrates  and 
people  in  other  ways,  were  of  momentous  influence  in  the 
securing  and  development  of  civil  freedom.  A  sermon 
preached  by  Thomas  Hooker  as  early  as  May  31,  1638, 
and  deciphered  from  obscure  notes  not  many  years 
since,  furnishes,  according  to  Dr.  Bacon,'"  "  the  earliest 
known  suggestion  of  a  fundamental  law  enacted  not 
by  royal  charter,  nor  by  concession  from  any  previously 
existing  government,  but  by  the  people  themselves,  — 
a  primary  and  supreme  law  by  which  the  government 

1  Historical  Sketch  of  Congregational  Churches  in  Massachusetts, 
p.  56. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  12,  f.    See,  also,  Baylie's  Historical  Memoir,  I.  30. 

3  Centennial  Papers  of  the  General  Conference  of  Connecticut,  p.  152. 


144  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  rv. 

is  constituted,  and  which  not  only  provides  for  tlie  free 
choice  of  magistrates  by  the  people,  but  also  '  sets  the 
bounds  and  limitations  of  the  power  and  place '  to 
which  each  magistrate  is  called."  This  same  Congre- 
gational pastor  instituted  in  Connecticut  such  a  system 
of  state  policy  and  laws  as  commanded  admiration  in 
England.  In  Massachusetts,  for  more  than  fifty  years, 
John  Cotton's  "  Judicials  "  and  Nathaniel  Ward's  "Body 
of  Liberties "  constituted  the  only  civil  code.  The 
"  Vindication  of  the  Government  of  New-England 
churches,"  by  Rev.  John  Wise,  "  Pastor  to  a  Church  in 
Ipswich,"  was  used  as  a  political  text-book  in  the  strug- 
gle for  civil  freedom  ;  ^  and  some  of  the  most  glittering 
sentences  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  seem  like 
echoes  from  this  work  of  the  Ipswich  pastor.  The 
election-sermons  by  Congregational  ministers  were, 
down  to  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  clear, 
convincing,  and  effective  applications  of  the  principles 
of  religion  and  of  their  church  order  to  affairs  of  civil 
government.  They  were  often  printed  in  large  edi- 
tions, and  distributed  among  the  people  as  quasi  state- 
documents.  What  fidelity  some  of  these  sermons 
displayed,  we  may  judge  from  a  somewhat  late  exam- 
ple. John  Barnard,  pastor  of  a  church  in  Andover, 
preached  the  election-sermon  before  his  Excellency 
William  Shirley,  Governor,  and  the  other  assembled 
notables.  May  28,  1746.2  -p^  these  worthies  the  bold 
preacher  does  not  hesitate  to  present  point  blank  these 
and  similar  pertinent  inquuies :  "  Are  those  so  fit  to 
govern  others  who  don't  govern  their  passions  and  ap- 

1  See  Historical  Sketch  of  Congregational  Churches  in  JMassachusetts, 
p.  120. 

2  Printed  by  John  Draper,  printer  to  His  Excellency  the  Governour 
and  Council,  for  Daniel  Gookin,  over  against  the  Old-South  Meeting- 
house.    Volume  in  the  library  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society. 


LBCT.  IV.]  CIVIL   INFLUENCE   OF   PASTORS.  145 

petites?"  "  Is  an  epicure  or  debauchee  a  meet  person 
to  be  a  senator?  "  "  Is  it  not  to  be  wished  that  all  who 
sit  at  this  honorable  board  might  be  of  a  religious  char- 
acter?" 

How  faithfully  these  officers  of  Congregational  church- 
es were  consulted  in  important  state  affairs,  and  how 
closely  followed  their  advice  generally  was,  no  one 
familiar  with  the  history  need  be  informed.  Their 
opinion,  however,  was  influential  for  its  reasons,  not 
officially  dictatorial.  John  Cotton  was  largely  influ- 
ential in  all  the  civil  afi'airs  of  his  Colony ;  and  yet, 
when  he,  in  a  sermon  before  the  General  Court,  tried  to 
secure  the  re-election  of  Winthrop  as  governor,  on  the 
dangerous  principle  that  the  office  belongs  during  good 
behavior  to  the  office-holder,  the  people  turned  out 
Winthrop,  and  put  in  Dudley.  With  equally  good 
effect  in  illustrating  the  falsity  of  their  own  principles 
have  other  ministers  tried  to  preach  candidates  into 
their  offices.  In  the  war  of  the  Revolution  the  preach- 
ing of  Congregational  pastors  was  no  small  contribu- 
tion to  the  cause  of  civil  liberty.^  The  opinion  of  the 
elder  Adams  is  said  to  have  been  expressed  to  a  French 
statesman,  that  American  independence  was  mainly  due 
to  the  clergy ;  that  is,  to  the  Congregational  ministers 
of  New  England.  Nor  was  the  cause  of  civil  liberty, 
both  in  earlier  times  and  in  the  War  for  Independence, 
represented  by  the  clergy  in  sermons  and  prayers  alone. 
They  were  fined  and  went  to  jail  for  the  public  teach- 
ing of  the  principles  of  freedom.  They  even  fought  as 
well  as  preached,  and  gave  gunpowder  as  well  as  inflam- 
matory addresses.    I  need  not  mention  the  amazing  and 

1  See,  for  examples,  the  Essay  of  Rev.  William  C.  Fowler  on  the 
Ministers  of  Connecticut  in  the  Revolution,  Centennial  Papers,  pp. 
1-144. 


146  PRINCIPLES   OP   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  iv. 

ludicrous  courage  of  Dr.  Daggett,  who  rode  his  ancient 
black  mare  furiously  to  battle  as  he  went,  fowling- 
piece  in  hand,  alone  to  oppose  a  column  of  twenty-five 
hundred  British  soldiers.  The  annals  written  for  this 
pur})Ose  have  recorded  not  a  few  instances  of  equally 
genuine  and  wiser  courage  in  Congregational  pastors. 
We  may  readily  believe  that  the  ministers  of  New 
England  were  "not  parasites  on  the  body  politic." 
We  may  even  refrain  from  dissent  to  the  sweeping 
declaration  of  Dr.  Leavitt,  when  he  goes  so  far  as  to 
say,  "  The  Puritan  Congregationalists  have  been  the 
means,  under  God,  of  nearly  all  the  civil  and  religious 
liberty  in  the  world."  ^  Certain  it  is,  that  wli|itever 
contributions  they  made  to  the  world's  civil  liberty 
they  made  out  of  the  treasury  of  principles  of  liberty 
in  the  Church  state  accumulated  for  all  the  Lord's 
people.  As  the  freemen  of  the  Lord,  having  a  voice  in 
all  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  they  proposed  so  to  organ- 
ize the  State  as  to  have  a  voice  there  also,  and,  having 
once  gained  that  position  in  the  State,  they  proposed  to 
retain  and  defend  it.^ 

Nor  has  the  service  of  this  principle  of  our  church 
order,  which  cultivates  the  spirit  of  a  reasonable  indi- 
vidualism, been  wanting  to  the  cause  of  reform  in  civil 
iniquities.  When  we  learn  that  the  motion  made  in 
1788  by  the  Association  of  the  Western  District  of 
New-Haven  County,  declaring  the  slave-trade  to  be 
unjust,  and  calling  for  its  abolition  by  law,  preceded  the 
year  in  which  the  State  of  Connecticut  actually  enacted 
laws  for  its  abolition,  we  have  an  indication  of  the 
course  of  this  entire  reform.  How  unjust  the  charge 
would  be  that  Congregational  pastors  and  churches  iu 

1  Christian  Spectator,  1832,  p.  377. 

2  See  Congregational  Tracts,  No.  II.,  p.  1. 


LECT.  IV.]  INFLUENCE   IN   EEFOEMS.  147 

general  stood  in  the  way  of  the  antislavery  movement, 
may  be  abundantly  proved.^  The  same  impulse  to  move 
the  disinthralling  of  men  has,  in  general,  incited  our 
Congregational  pastors  and  churches  to  use  their  influ- 
ence as  citizens  in  favor  of  the  so-called  temperance 
reform.  The  early  course  of  this  reform  in  Connecticut 
is  traced  somewhat  in  detail  in  a  volume  of  Contribu- 
tions to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  that  State.  The 
sermon  of  Rev.  Ebenezer  Porter,  j^reached  in  1806,  made 
the  first  profound  impression  upon  the  public  mind. 
Roused  by  this  sermon,  the  South  Association  of  Litch- 
field County  appointed  a  committee  to  report  a  remedy 
for  the  evil  of  intemperance.  In  1812  the  Fairfield  West 
Association  issued  a  temperance  address  to  its  minis- 
ters and  churches  :  on  the  13th  of  October  in  that  year, 
they,  the  first  of  all  ecclesiastical  bodies  to  adopt  this 
measure,  resolved,  "  that  the  customary  use  of  ardent 
spirits  shall  be  wholly  discontinued  from  this  hour."  In 
1826  the  six  memorable  sermons  of  Lyman  Beecher  were 
delivered  in  Litchfield,  Conn.  In  1827  the  General 
Association  placed  itself  upon  record  as  to  this  reform. 
The  earliest  and  most  efficient  county  temperance  so- 
ciety in  the  State  was  organized  Sept.  2,  1828,  in  the 
Congregational  church  at  Haddam.  The  State  Tem- 
perance Society  had  as  its  first  president  Dr.  Jeremiah 
Day,  President  of  Yale  College ;  and  Congregational 
clergymen  were  its  first  chairman  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee, and  corresponding  secretary.  Of  a  list  of  about 
forty  most  notable  temperance  publications  issued  in 
this  State  between  the  years  1806  and  1840,  the  great 
majority  are  by  the  pens  of  Congregational  pastors. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  the  narrative  of  the  reform  of 

1  See  Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  58,  f, 
and  art.  of  Dr.  Cushing  in  Congregational  Quarterly,  1876,  pp.  550,  ff. 


148  PEINCrPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.iv. 

the  intemperate  in  other  New-England  States  would  be 
notably  unlike  that  in  Connecticut. 

In  general,  and  in  all  places,  the  adherents  of  Con- 
gregational principles  have  been  among  the  foremost  to 
act  as  Christian  citizens  for  the  remedying  of  public 
wrongs  and  for  the  reforming  of  public  morals.  And 
the  very  point  to  be  noticed  in  this  connection  lies  in 
the  truth  that  this  prompt  and  efhcient  activity  is  the 
direct  outgrowth  of  the  effort  to  apply  the  principles  of 
a  true  church  polity  to  the  citizenship  of  the  members 
of  the  churches.  Of  those  principles,  the  one  which 
affirms  the  exclusive  rulership  of  Jesus  Christ  over  his 
churches,  and  the  one  which  places  every  individual 
under  that  rulership  upon  a  platform  of  equality  and 
self-control  with  every  other,  have  exercised  directest 
and  most  potent  influence  over  the  welfare  of  man  in 
civil  life.  They  have  done  much  to  secure  the  liberties 
both  of  the  churches  and  of  the  people  at  large.  The 
former  principle  provides  that  every  person  and  every 
church  shall,  in  the  formation  and  expression  of  religious 
belief,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  religious  services,  be 
free  from  governmental  control.  It  provides  also,  that 
churches  shall  not  themselves  so  far  usurp  the  authori- 
ty of  Jegus  Christ  as  to  try  by  the  civil  arm,  either  to 
control  other  churches,  or  to  force  their  own  religious 
ophiions  and  forms  of  worship  upon  the  communities  in 
which  they  are  planted.  The  experience  of  our  fathers 
shows  also  the  weakness  and  inefficiency  of  an  effort  to 
construct  a  state  out  of  the  churches  for  the  exercise  of 
such  authority  over  men  as  belongs  only  to  Christ.  The 
second  principle  stimulates  and  encourages  every  man 
in  the  endeavor  to  stand,  both  in  the  Church  and  in  the 
State,  beside  every  fellow-man,  as  alike  entitled  to  the 
powers  and  privileges  of  a  freeman :   it  also  obligates 


LECT.  IV.]        SUGGESTIONS   FOE    CIVIL   CONDUCT.  149 

each  one  to  concede  to  every  other  the  powers  and 
privileges  which  he  chaims  for  himself.  It  is  largely 
under  the  influences  from  these  religious  principles,  that 
modern  society,  especially  in  England  and  America, 
has  been  permeated  with  the  ideas  and  spirit  of  civil 
freedom. 

We  close  this  discussion  with  certain  suggestions  as 
to  fit  conduct  in  Congregational  pastors  which  have 
been  made  prominent  by  our  theme. 

Congregational  pastors  should  be  especially  careful 
not  to  give  to  the  people  the  impression  that  they  are 
allied  with  aristocratic  ideas  and  movements  in  history. 
To  seem  to  be  a  partisan  of  any  class  injures  the  influ- 
ence of  any  Christian  pastor.  Demagogism  is  peculiarly 
despicable  in  a  minister.  Few  ministers,  however,  in 
our  churches,  have  practised  demagogism,  or  suffered 
from  its  just  reproaches.  Few  have  even  been  suspected 
of  it.  But  Congregational  churches  and  their  pastors 
have  suffered,  not  unfrequently,  from  the  too  plausible 
suspicion  of  being  over-aristocratic.  For  some  time  in 
New  England  they  comprised  and  constituted  nearly  all 
the  aristocracy.  The  citizenship,  the  honors,  the  con- 
trol, the  ofiices,  were  in  their  hands.  It  has  been  said 
that  in  Connecticut,  "  every  Governor  in  either  Colony 
before  the  Union,  and  afterwards  every  Governor  in  the 
united  Colony,  down  to  the  year  1811,  was  in  his  own 
town  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church  in  full 
communion."  ^  The  facts  were  similar  in  all  the  New- 
England  States.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  no  other 
so  good  governors  were  likely  at  these  times  to  be  found 
in  New  England  outside  of  Congregational  churches. 
There  can  be  as  little  doubt  that  during  these  times  the 
aristocratic  position  of  these  churches  was  separating 

1  Centennial  Papers  of  the  General  Conference  of  Connecticut,  p.  165. 


150  PRINCIPLES  ■  OF    CHUECH   POLITY.         [lect.  iv. 

them  from  the  growing  multitudes  of  the  so-called 
lower  orders  of  the  people.  Now,  no  order  of  Christian 
churches  can  rightly  or  safely  be  separated  from  the 
sympathies  of  the  common  people.  I  regard  it  as  es- 
pecially important  in  these  days  to  have  the  multitudes 
in  all  places  know  that  the  pastors  of  our  churches  feel 
with  them  in  every  right  feeling,  and  feel  for  them  in 
their  suffering  of  every  wrong.  In  this  great  strife  of 
classes  which  is  going  on,  both  the  upper  and  the  lower 
have  their  grievous  faults.  A  selfish  heart  is  the  same 
under  fustian  or  velvet.  But  the  people  have  suffered 
much  in  the  world's  past :  they  are  surely  coming  to  the 
front  in  the  world's  future.  And  for  them  Christ  died. 
They  are  blind  and  blundering ;  but  they  learn  to  heed 
sound  advice,  and  to  know  their  friends.  The  pastor  of 
every  Congregational  church  should  be  known  as  the 
genuine  and  wise  friend  and  brother-citizen  of  the 
poorer  people.  His  due  gravity  of  manners  should  not 
need  to  appear  to  them  as  austerity :  his  recoil  from 
vulgarity  and  impurity  should  not  be  suspected  of  the 
vulgarity  of  self-esteem,  the  impurity  of  uncharitable- 
ness. 

Moreover,  the  Congregational  pastor  should  be  a 
brave,  alert,  strenuous,  and  pure-minded  citizen.  He 
may  wear  a  white  neckcloth ;  but  it  must  not  keep  him 
from  the  smudge  of  the  caucus  and  the  polls.  To 
turn  political  trickster  would  be  to  cheat  himself  out 
of  the  valuable  position  of  a  pure  and  upright  Christian 
teacher ;  but  to  be  a  man  among  men,  a  citizen  among 
fellow-citizens,  he  is  in  duty  bound.  Some  of  the  casuis- 
tr}^  of  evangelistic  preaching  has  recently  been  directed 
toward  causing  the  Christian,  and  especially  the  preacher, 
to  withdraw  as  completely  as  possible  from  this  wholly 
vain   and  perishing  world,  with  all  its  concerns,  com- 


LECT.  IV.]        SUGGESTIONS   FOK   CIVIL   CONDUCT.  151 

mercial  and  political.  Yes,  let  the  pastor  withdraw  his 
spirit  from  the  world  of  selfish  spirits,  and  especially 
from  that  spirit  of  religious  self-indulgence  and  ease,  or 
that  spirit  of  aloofness  from  needy  causes  and  smutty 
souls,  which  is  characteristic  of  a  semi  and  quasi  rather 
than  a  genuine  devotion  to  Christ.  Where  public 
wrong  is  to  be  righted,  where  crimes  in  high  places  are 
to  be  rebuked,  where  the  struggle  of  good  citizens 
against  the  vile  is  to  be  encouraged,  there,  in  due  sea- 
sons and  opportunities,  is  the  Congregational  pastor's 
place.  This  is,  with  Congregationalism,  the  traditiciial 
province  of  the  Christian  minister ;  and  he  is  to  occupy 
his  province,  even  if  it  cost  him  fines  and  imprisonment, 
as  well  as  jeering  and  abuse.  Rev.  John  Wise  was  in 
jail  twenty-one  days,  was  then  fined  fifty  dollars  and 
suspended  from  the  ministerial  function,  all  —  to  give 
his  own  account-— because  he  "made  a  speech  and 
said  that  we  had  a  good  God,  and  a  good  king,  and 
should  do  well  to  stand  to  our  privileges."  A  severe 
penalty  for  a  mild  crime  was  this ;  yet  the  entire  pro- 
ceeding on  the  reverend  gentleman's  part  was  apparently 
conducted  on  Congregational  principles. 

Especially  should  Congregational  pastors  believe  and 
teach  that  the  principles  of  sound  government  are  in 
true  religion.  Now,  as  under  Mosaism,  the  eternal 
principle  is  true,  that  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation. 
The  French  sociologist,  Le  Play,  announces  that  a 
scientific  induction  from  facts  of  personal  observation, 
which  he  spent  years  in  gathering,  establishes  the  con- 
clusion, the  basis  of  national  prosperity  is  in  righteous- 
ness. One  of  the  Puritans  would  have  sworn  to  the 
principle  as  taught  by  the  Bible,  and  would  have  de- 
*  fended  it  by  his  sword,  without  need  of  tedious  obser- 
vations and  induction.     It  is  just  this  truth  which  only 


152  PRESrCrPLES   of   church   polity.         [lect.  iv. 

a  part  of  the  people,  and  scarcely  any  of  the  politicians, 
now  really  believe.  But  it  is,  in  part,  the  duty  of  the 
religious  teachers  of  both  people  and  politicians  to 
keep  this  truth  before  their  minds.  We  are  ruined, 
churches  and  all  else  together,  if  we  permanently  de- 
part as  citizens  from  this  truth.  He  who  tries  to  keep 
his  little  congregation  as  "a  garden  walled  around," 
unmindful  of  the  approach  of  the  prairie-fire  or  the 
slower  encroachments  of  the  Canada  thistle  in  the  out- 
lying domain,  minimizes  his  influence,  and  magnifies  his 
dangers.  This  has  never  been  the  polity  of  Congrega- 
tionalism. It  has  made  ministers,  who,  like  Thomas 
Hooker,  could  put  a  king  in  their  pockets.  It  has 
transformed  nations,  and  breathed  the  breath  of  civil, 
and  religious  freedom  into  the  fainting  and  dying  peo- 
ples. And  its  ancient  spirit  is  not  yet  dead.  We  shall 
never  cease  as  citizens  to  be  in  contest  with  political 
evils,  until  "  that  old  serpent  called  the  devil "  is  "  cast 
out,"  and  "  his  angels  are  cast  out  with  him,  "  and  until 
the  voice  is  heard  saying  of  earth  as  well  as  heaven, 
"  Now  is  come  salvation  and  strength,  and  the  kingdom 
of  our  God,  and  the  power  of  his  Christ." 


LECTURE   V. 

THE   FOEMAL   PRINCIPLE   OF   CONGREGATIONALISM. 

In  the  treatment  of  our  general  theme  we  have 
arrived  at  the  second  of  the  three  main  divisions  in 
which  it  was  proposed  to  discuss  certain  applications 
of  the  principles  of  the  true  Church  Polity  as  those 
principles  were  analyzed  and  enunciated  in  the  First 
Lecture  of  this  Course.  The  fitness  of  these  principles 
to  man  as  a  rational  soul,  as  a  social  being,  and  as  a 
member  of  civil  government,  has  already  been  discussed. 
We  now  inquire  in  what  manner  and  degree  these 
same  principles  are  adapted  to  conserve  the  purity,  and 
unfold  in  ever-nearer  approaches  to  absolute  jDcrfection 
the  symmetry,  of  our  common  Christian  faith.  The 
inquiry  will  demand  the  most  careful  attention,  and 
warmest,  most  discriminating  interest,  of  both  listeners 
and  lecturer.  Mooted  and  difficult  questions  —  ques- 
tions which  have  divided  and  do  still  divide  the  opin- 
ions of  authorities  and  the  practices  of  our  churches, 
and  which  have  excited  and  do  still  excite  no  small 
amount  of  passion  and  of  ]3assionate  debate  —  must  be 
either  touched  in  passing,  or  seized  and  handled  with 
a  firm  grasp.  We  shall  do  well,  not  only  in  reference 
to  the  present  discussion,  but  also  in  reference  to  all 
similar  discussion  in  subsequent  life,  if  we  learn  to  look 
calmly  at  the  truth,  without  fear,  or  prejudice,  or  haste. 

153 


154  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

In  preparation  of  the  spirit  for  such  discussion  we  may 
keep  before  our  minds  these  following  truths. 

The  'most  mooted  and  most  difficult  of  these  ques- 
tions are  by  no  means  new.  Our  church  order,  like  all 
vital  and  growing  institutions,  has  to  make  perpetual 
effort  to  re-adjust  itself  to  changes  in  circumstances, 
and,  in  the  effort  at  re-adjustment,  to  make  new  appli- 
cations of  its  principles  and  fundamental  laws.  By  its 
very  nature  it  is  not  a  finished  product.  It  ought  not, 
therefore,  to  be  laid  upon  the  shelf  as  a  somewhat 
demanding  no  further  energy  of  thought  or  warmth  of 
feeling.  Certain  questions  have  been  debated  from  the 
very  beginning  by  Congregational  churches.  They 
have  not  yet  arrived  at  a  settlement :  they  are  still  in 
process  of  settlement.  The  more  strictly  Independent, 
the  more  purely  Congregational,  and  the  more  rigidly 
Presbyterian  view  of  many  of  the  questions  of  polity, 
the  more  technically  orthodox,  the  more  freely  tenta- 
tive, and  the  more  genuinely  liberal  view  of  many  of 
the  questions  of  doctrine,  have  existed  and  striven 
together,  in  differing  phases  of  commixture,  from  the 
beginning  until  now. 

But  the  continued  life  and  enlarging  growth  of  Con- 
gregationalism are  not  primarily  dependent  upon  the 
immediate  settlement,  in  one  way  or  another,  of  these 
mooted  questions  of  polity  and  doctrine.  Life  and 
growth  are  not  dependent  upon  details  and  technicali- 
ties of  form.  The  wail  has  come  up  from  underneath 
the  walls  of  our  Zion  again  and  again,  that  the  very 
walls  were  leaning  over  toward  Babylon,  or  tottering 
to  their  fall  clean  down  into  the  Valley  of  Gehenna. 
Oftentimes  the  illusion  has  been  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  men  who  made  the  outcry  fancied  themselves,  with 
all  their  views  of  Congregationalism,  built  into  the  very 


LECT.  v.]  MOOTED    QUESTIONS   OF   POLITY.  155 

walls :  as  their  brains  reeled,  the  walls,  therefore,  fell. 
The  interference  of  the  secular  arm  and  the  non-inter- 
ference of  that  arm  ;  the  "  Babel  "  of  Independency  and 
the  "  Babylon  "  of  Presbyterianizing ;  the  associating 
of  ministers  and  consociating  of  churches  on  the  one 
hand,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  refusal  of  other  min- 
isters to  associate,  and  of  other  churches  to  consociate ; 
the  terrors  of  ruling  elders  and  the  abolition  of  the 
ofSce  of  ruling  elders ;  the  too  frequent  calling  of 
mutual  counciss  and  the  refusal  to  call  any  councils; 
contempt  of  councils  actual,  and  actually  contemptible 
councils  ;  the  use  of  lay  ordination  and  the  substitution 
of  clerical  for  lay  ordination ;  the  failure  to  organize 
a  National  Council  and  the  National  Council  when  or- 
ganized ;  the  lack  of  a  great  and  awe-inspiring  creed 
and  the  proposal  to  create  an  awful  and  unbearable 
bondage  of  a  general  creed,  —  all  these  and  many 
other  causes  of  the  ills  borne  by  our  church  order  have 
been  frequently  assigned.  Our  own  doctors  have  often 
gravely  declared  our  diseases  mortal :  under  their  con- 
signment we  have  already  died  a  hundred  deaths.  But 
the  truth  has  been,  and  is,  and  will  remain,  that  all 
these-  things  are  of  subordinate  importance.  We  shall 
really  thrive  according  as,  both  in  polity  and  doctrine, 
we  cling  by  the  Head,  and  in  the  spirit  of  Christ  do  our 
positive  work  as  Christian  churches.  We  have  failed 
to  thrive  more,  because  we  have  not  had  enough  of  love 
for  men,  of  apostolic  zeal,  of  charity  toward  our  breth- 
ren, of  devotion  to  the  Master. 

These  questions  are,  indeed,  not  to  be  counted  trivial, 
or  unworthy  of  regard.  They  are  never  to  be  exalted, 
however,  to  prime  importance.  They  are  not  to  be 
discussed  so  as  to  separate  brethren,  but  rather  so  as 
to  unite  them  in  the  manifestation  of  zeal  and   love. 


156  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

The  tilings  wliicli  they  concern  are  forms  of  manifesting 
the  life.  The  life  must  have  a  manifestation ;  but  the 
life  is  more  than  any  one  of  its  manifested  forms. 

The  following  five  Lectures  will  comprise  the  second 
main  division  of  our  theme.  We  shall  make  the  effort 
to  apply  the  principles  already  set  forth:  (1)  to  the 
faith  required  for  membership  in  the  local  Congregation- 
al church ;  (2)  to  the  purity  in  the  faith  of  Congrega- 
tional ministers ;  (3)  to  the  communion  of  Congregation- 
al churches  in  matters  of  their  common  faith. 

The  formal  principle  of  the  true  church  polity  re- 
quires that  we  shall  regard  the  Word  of  God  in  the 
Scripture  as  giving  to  Christian  churches  their  rule  of 
faith,  and  this  not  only  with  reference  to  the  doctrines 
which  they  shall  hold,  but  also  with  reference  to  the 
forms  according  to  which  they  shall  institute  and  man- 
age ecclesiastical  affairs.  We  consider,  then,  in  this 
Lecture  certain  features  of  this  formal  principle.  We 
consider,  that  is,  the  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  as  giv- 
ing the  rule  of  faith  and  discipline.  We  can  indeed 
scarcely  speak  of  any  definite  expression  of  this  doc- 
trine as  being  distinctively  Congregational.  In  what 
sense  and  manner  the  Scriptures  contain  and  furnish 
the  rule  of  faith  is  a  question,  which,  in  all  its  details, 
has  never  been  satisfactorily  answered  by  the  Christian 
Church.  Congregationalism  has  displayed  no  distinc- 
tive and  thoroughly  well  formulated  statement  of  the 
doctrine.  Certain  phases  and  tendencies  of  belief  are, 
however,  of  Protestant  origin  and  Protestant  charac- 
teristics. Certain  minuter  phases  and  obscurer  tenden- 
cies are  perhaps  to  be  spoken  of  as  showing  to  some 
extent  the  characteristics  of  Congregationalism.  In 
fact,  our  church  order  has  most  fostered  a  certain  way 
of  using  the  Scriptures  as  giving  the  rule  of  faith.     In 


LECT.  v.]  THE  FORMAL  PEINCIPLE.  ]  57 

theory,  this  order  bases  itself  upon  the  assumption  that 
a  certain  form  of  this  doctrine  is  alone  valid :  this  order 
also  proceeds  to  prove  that  this  valid  form  should  serve 
as  a  basis  for  the  constitution  and  discipline  of  Chris- 
tian churches. 

We  should  not,  then,  I  repeat,  venture  to  speak  of  a 
distinctively  Congregational  doctrine  of  Sacred  Scrip- 
ture, understanding  by  these  words  a  doctrine  which 
has  been  formulated  by  authorities  in  theology,  and 
from  them  accepted  by  the  churches.  We  shall  show, 
however,  that  Congregationalism  has,  with  more  or  less 
of  self-conscious  recognition  of  its  own  attitude,  devel- 
oped in  partial  form  a  distinctive  phase  of  the  general 
doctrine. 

Only  the  rudiments  or  temporary  manifestations  of 
the  formal  principle  of  Congregationalism  are  to  be  found 
in  the  history  of  the  Church,  from  the  time  when  Ro- 
manism first  established  itself  down  to  the  time  when 
the  movement  began  in  England  for  the  establishment 
of  Christ's  churches  according  to  the  order  of  the  New 
Testament.  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon  ^  rightly  regards  the 
proposal  which  Francis  Lambert  made  to  Philip  of 
Hesse,  to  establish  a  church  polity  upon  the  principles 
of  the  New  Testament,  as  manifesting  the  presence  of 
the  Congregational  idea,  in  1526,  in  Germany.  This 
proposal  tested  itself  in  respect  to  form,  to  reasonable- 
ness, and  to  obligation,  by  the  Word  of  God  in  Scrip- 
ture. It  may  therefore  be  said  to  constitute  the  earli- 
est recognition,  after  the  Reformation  began,  of  this 
formal  principle.  In  England,  the  Articles  of  Faith  pro- 
mulgated about  Michaelmas,  1536,  although  they  taught 

1  Genesis  of  the  New-England  Churches,  p.  53,  f.  A  Life  of  this 
reformer  has  been  written  by  J.  W.  Baum,  entitled  Franz  Lambert  of 
Avignon,  Strassburg,  1840.  "  He  was  a  most  remarkable  man,"  says 
Kurtz,  Church  History,  II.  §  7.  2. 


158  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and  retained  auricu- 
lar confession,  and  the  worship  of  saints  and  images, 
nevertheless  recognized  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the 
standard  of  appeal  without  reference  to  tradition  or  the 
papal  decjees.  "Bishop  Burnet  tells  us,"  says  Prince,^ 
"  that,  by  King  Henry's  order,  he  (Lord  Cromwell)  de- 
clares it  was  the  King's  pleasure  that  the  rites  and  cere- 
monies of  the  Church  should  be  reformed  by  the  rules 
of  Scripture,  and  that  nothing  was  to  be  maintained 
which  did  not  rest  upon  that  authority."  "  Now  this," 
adds  Mr.  Prince,  "  is  the  grand  principle  of  Puritanism ; 
.  .  .  and,  had  the  governors  of  the  Church  adhered 
strictly  to  this  one  principle,  .  .  .  the  wJiole  Church 
had  then  been  Puritan."  All  this  was,  however,  viti- 
ated both  in  theory  and  in  fact  by  the  previous  Act  of 
1534,  which  had  conferred  upon  the  King  the  right  of 
final  decision  in  matters  of  doctrine.  All  the  blindness 
and  spite  of  the  worst  persecution  in  the  most  Catholic 
countries  were  brought  to  bear  against  those  who 
dissented  from  tlie  royal  Confession  of  Faith,  the  Six 
Articles  of  June,  1539.  Tyndale's  translation  of  the 
Bible  was  first  prohibited  by  royal  edict,  and  in  1548 
even  the  reading  of  the  version  formerly  authorized  and 
commended  by  the  King  was  denied  to  the  common 
people.^ 

That  the  Protestant  churches  on  the  Continent  of 
Europe  have  never  fully  recognized  this  formal  principle 
of  the  true  church  polity  was  indicated  in  a  previous 
Lecture.  Guerike,  indeed,  claims  that  "  the  Word  of 
God,  the  Word  of  God  alone,"  is  the  formal  principle  of 
the  Lutheran  Church.     From  this  principle  this  author 

1  New-England  Chronology,  p.  283. 

2  Burnet,  London,  1825,  vol.  I.  p.  414. 


i,ECT.  v.:  THE   FORMAL   PRINCIPLE.  159 

accuses^   both    the    Roman-Catholic    Church   and    the 
Reformed  Churches  of  departing  widely,  although  in  di- 
verse lines  of  departure.     The  Roman-Catholic  doctrine 
refuses  to  receive  the  Word  of  God  in  the  Scripture  as 
alone  giving  the  rule  of  faith,  and  co-ordinates  with  it 
tradition  as  a  peer  in  its  authority.     But  the  doctrine 
of  the  Reformed  Churches  (and  among  these,  no  doubt 
Guerike  would  most  emphatically  place  the  Congrega- 
tional churches)  has  in  his  opinion   erred   in   making 
"  the  meaning  of  the  divine  Word  actually  dependent 
upon  the  comprehension  or  non-comprehension  of  the 
human  reason:"  it  "has,  in  fact,  made  reason   judge 
over  the  Divine  Word ;  "  it  has  accepted  "  the  principle 
of  subordinating  the  word  and  the  letter  to  the  so-called 
spirit,"  and  has   thus   introduced   into    the   Church  a 
"  spirit-proud  idealism."    Substantially  the  same  charges 
against  the  Reformed  Churches  does  Rudelbach  make 
in  his  celebrated  articles  on  the  Doctrine  of  Inspiration.^ 
According   to   Rudelbach,  "the    principles   of   a   false 
spiritualism  and  the  application  of  rational  principles  as 
co-ordinately  determining  the  contents  of  faith,"  have 
obscured  the  doctrine  of  inspiration  in  the  Reformed 
Churches.    Calvin  and  Beza,  in  the  opinion  of  these  Lu- 
theran theologians,  taught  this  heresy.     Richard  Baxter 
led  astray  after  him  by  use  of  this  false  principle  the 
majority  of  English  theologians.     These  advocates  of 
Lutheranism  adduce  a  number  of  instances  of  such  false 
doctrine  from  the  theological  authors  and  symbols  of 
the  Reformed  Churches.     Rudelbach  is  even  forced  to 
lament,  that  although  the  Lutheran  doctrine  upon  the 
Bible  as  furnishing  the  rule  of  faith  remains  unques- 

1  See  article  in  Zeitschrift  fiir  die  gesammte  Lutb.  Theologie,  1840, 
erstes  quartelheft. 

2  See  the  same  Zeitschrift,  same  year,  erstes  and  zweites  quartel- 
heft. 


160  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

tionably  orthodox,  yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  almost  all  the 
Lutheran  doctors  have  abandoned  the  doctrme.  The 
admission  helps  to  convince  us  of  the  truthfulness  and 
advantage  of  another  view  of  Sacred  Scripture. 

After  making  certain  corrections  of  language,  we 
are  quite  ready  to  admit  the  substantial  truth  of  the 
charges  made  by  these  theologians,  as  applying  to  Con- 
gregationalism, which  may  be  regarded  as  in  some  sort 
leading  the  advanced  line  of  the  Reformed  Churches. 
The  Congregational  doctrine  does  not  make  the  Word 
of  God  in  Scripture  dependent  upon  the  comprehen- 
sion of  reason ;  it  does  not  make  reason  judge  over  this 
Word ;  it  does  not  subordinate  the  Word  to  the  so- 
called  Spirit.  Its  "  spiritualism  "  is  not  "  false  :  "  the 
Holy  Ghost,  whom  it  accepts  as  divine  teacher,  is  not 
a  "  so-called  spirit."  This  doctrine  does,  however,  in 
a  certain  true  significance  of  the  words,  co-ordinate 
reason  with  Scripture,  and  subordinate  the  letter  to  the 
spirit.  The  formal  principle  of  Congregationalism  must 
make  itself  defensible  by  reason :  this  it  does  to  a  large 
degree  by  uniting  itself  with  the  material  principle. 
And  how,  we  will  begin  by  inquiring,  is  the  formal 
principle  of  either  Lutheranism  or  Congregationalism 
to  erect  itself  at  all  into  the  place  of  an  acknowledged 
principle,  if  it  fly  up  in  the  face  of  the  very  facts  and 
ideas  of  redeemed  humanity  upon  which  it  must  rather 
take  its  stand?  Understanding  by  reason  those  higher 
rational  and  spiritual  powers  of  humanity  in  which, 
when  the  soul  is  regenerated,  the  Holy  Spirit  delights 
to  dwell,  and  which  he  uses  as  his  organ,  we  are  bound 
to  declare.  The  claim  of  the  Scripture  itself  to  be  the 
sole  objective  authority  is  derived  from  the  historic  fact 
that  it  is  a  gift  of  God  in  and  through  reason,  is  tested 
by  reason,  maintained  by  reason,  is  united  in  the  last 


LECT.  v.]  THE   FORMAL   PRINCIPLE.  161 

analysis  with  the  claim  to  authority  of  reason  itself. 
To  erect  a  view  of  the  Bible  which  does  not  acknowl- 
edge this  is  to  build  a  house  divided  against  itself. 
The  union  of  the  sanctified  reason  and  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
ture, of  the  divine  Word  subjective  and  the  divine 
Word  objective,  is  the  primal  and  essential  element  in 
the  formal  principle.  We  do  not,  indeed,  reply  to  those 
who  object  to  our  understanding  of  Scripture  —  to  use 
the  illustration  of  Rudelbach  —  after  the  fashion  of 
Luther  in  his  debate  upon  the  bodily  presence  of  Christ 
in  the  Lord's  Supper.  We  respect  the  claims  of  the 
human  reason :  we  regard  the  Christian  consciousness 
as  furnishing,  in  some  sense,  a  co-ordinate  revelation  of 
the  mind  of  Jesus  Christ. 

We  are  not  loath,  then,  to  cite,  in  proof  of  this  posi- 
tion, certain  quotations  made  by  Guerike  and  Rudel- 
bach, and  even  to  add  others  of  our  own.  The  essen- 
tial unity  of  Scripture  and  reason  is  the  doctrine  neces- 
sarily formed  by  blending  the  formal  and  the  material 
principles. 

"What  is  heard,"  says  Zwingle,  "is  not  the  very 
word  which  we  believe.  .  .  .  We  are  rendered  believers 
by  that  word  which  the  heavenly  Father  preaches  in 
our  hearts,  by  which  at  the  same  time  he  illumines  us 
that  we  may  understand,  and  draws  us  that  we  may 
follow."  And  CEcolampadius  speaks  of  an  inner  and 
an  outward  word  which  are  as  far  from  one  another  as 
are  the  law  and  grace.  Calvin  also  declares,^  "  For 
we  ought  to  understand  the  word,  not  of  a  murmur 
uttered  without  any  meaning  or  faith,  .  .  .  but  of  the 
gospel  preached,  which  instructs  us  in  the  signification 
of  the  visible  sign."  These  declarations  are  offensive 
and  heretical  in  the  sight  of  those  who  virtually  deny 

1  Institutes,  IV.  xiv.  4. 


162  PEINCIPLES    OF   CHUECH  POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

that  "the  immecliateness  and  fulness  of  that  relation 
which  exists  between  the  sjpirit  of  Christ  and  the  church 
of  Christ  extends  to  every  congregation  of  true  Chris- 
tians and  to  the  soul  of  every  individual  true  believer." 
But  this  is,  as  we  have  already  seen,  a  fixed  principle  in 
a  true  church  polity. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  to  find  the  unity  of  sancti- 
fied reason  and  Sacred  Scripture,  as  giving  the  rule  of 
faith,  virtually  asserted  by  many  writers  in  our  church 
order,  although  formulated  into  an  article  of  their  creed 
by  none.  "  God,  who  made  two  great  lights  for  the 
bodily  eye,"  said  John  Robinson,  "hath  also  made  two 
lights  for  the  eye  of  the  mind :  the  one,  the  Scriptures, 
for  her  supernatural  light ;  the  other,  reason,  for  her 
natural  light."  ^  "  As  to  ecclesiastical  matters,"  says 
Prince,  in  speaking  of  Robinson  and  his  church,  "they 
held  the  following  articles  to  be  agreeable  to  Scynpture 
and  reason.''''  ^  The  same  thought  is  advanced  by  Owen 
when  he  declares,^  that  to  take  the  attitude  demanded 
by  Romanism  toward  the  errors  of  the  Church  is  to 
"renounce  our  sense  and  reason,  with  all  that  under- 
standing which  we  have,  or  at  least  are  fully  convinced 
that  we  have,  of  the  mind  of  God  in  the  Scripture." 
But  in  the  other  view,  which  is  advocated  by  Guerike 
and  Rudelbach,  and  which  is  intended  at  once  to  place 
the  hand  of  church  authority  over  the  mouth  whenever 
reason  cries  out  against  churchly  interpretations  of  the 
divine  Word,  it  is  heretical  to  oppose  the  apparent 
meaning  of  the  letter  of  Scripture  by  bringing  forward 
known  impossibilities  of  matter  and  mind,  or  even  by 
appealing  to  clear   convictions  of  the    Christian  con- 

1  Essay  on  Authority  and  Reason. 

■•2  New-England  Chronology,  p.  177.    The  Italics  are  ours. 

s  Works,  XIII.,  p.  97. 


LECT.  v.]    UNITY  OF  EEASON  AND  THE  WORD  OF  GOD.   163 

sciousness.  For  example,  when  the  church  doctrine 
asserts  the  real  presence  of  the  body  of  Christ  in  the 
Holy  Supper,  we  can  only  bow  our  heads  before  the 
doctrine ;  so,  also,  with  sacramental  regeneration  and 
even  the  infallibility  of  the  Bible  itself.  We  may,  per- 
haps, examine  the  text  anew,  to  see  whether  it  still 
read,  hoc  est  meutn  corpus,  or  tovto  laxiv  to  aa[id  fiov. 
But  we  must  not  argue,  no  matter  how  sincerely  and 
reverently,  your  interpretation  cannot  be  correct,  for 
the  same  divine  Logos  who  made  the  world  spoke  in 
Jesus  Christ,  and  he  has  made  it  to  be  true,  "Pro- 
prietas  pliysica  humani  corporis  est  esse  in  loco."  There 
are,  however,  some  things  of  which  we  may  say,  as  John 
Wise  ^  says  of  natural  liberty,  "  And  certainly  it  is 
agreeable  that  we  attribute  it  to  God,  whether  we  re- 
ceive it  nextly  from  reason  or  revelation;  for  that  each 
is  equally  an  emanation  of  his  wisdom  (Prov.  xx.  27). 
The  spirit  of  man  is  the  candle  of  the  Lord,  searching 
all  the  inward  parts  of  the  belly.  There  \^  many 
larger  volumes  in  this  dark  recess  called  the  belly,  to 
be  read  by  that  candle  God  has  lighted  up."  The  same 
author  does  not  hesitate  to  speak  of  reason  as  congre- 
gate with  the  nature  of  man,  —  "a  law  immutable,  in- 
stampt  upon  his  frame."  Surely  nothing  in  Calvin, 
Zwingle,  or  Baxter,  could  so  shock  our  Lutheran  theo- 
logians as  this. 

A  correct  view  of  the  two  fundamental  principles  of 
the  true  church  polity  in  their  mutual  relations  compels 
us  to  assert  that  a  true  doctrine  of  Scripture,  as  giving 
the  rule  of  faith,  must  insist  upon  the  essential  unity  of 
reason  and  the  Word  of  God  in  Scripture.  The  spir- 
itually illumined  Christian  consciousness,  and  the  verbal 
statement  of  things   uttered  by  holy   men  of  old  as 

1  Vindication,  pp.  21,  23, 


164  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

they  were  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  are  in  substantial 
accord.  The  Word  of  God  in  the  biblical  books  cannot 
be  contradictory  of  reason.  This  Word  was  originally 
the  divine  truth  revealed  in  and  through  the  divinely 
illumined  reason  of  God's  children.  The  present  illum- 
ining of  the  reason  of  his  children  fits  them  to  appre- 
hend and  appropriate  this  objective  word.  The  spirit- 
ualized reason  in  the  soul  meets  the  historical  and 
actualized  work  of  the  reason  of  God  in  the  Book  of 
ills  Word.  The  call  which  comes  to  humanity  from  this 
formal  principle  when  united  with  the  material  prin- 
ciple is  never  the  summons,  Let  Reason  abjure  her 
throne :  it  is,  rather,  Let  Reason  be  divinely  illumined 
so  as  to  recognize  her  accord  with  the  divine  reason 
enthroned  in  the  divine  Word.  We  have  no  warrant 
for  saying,  We  accept  the  Bible  as  giving  the  rule 
of  faith  and  discipline,  despite  reason,  or  in  neglect  of 
reason.  We  say,  rather,  with  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,^  "  In 
every  question  which  involves  the  eternal  interests  of 
man,  the  Holy  Scriptures  must  be  appealed  to  in  union 
with  reason,  their  great  commentator." 

Nor  must  we  be  deceived  by  this  speaking  of  reason 
as  the  great  commentator  of  the  Bible.  The  title  does 
not  imply  that  the  only  work  of  the  divinely  illumined 
Christian  consciousness  with  reference  to  the  Bible  is 
to  inquire  formally,  and  as  it  were  ah  extra,  what  the 
Scriptures  say,  with  a  view  to  accept  the  traditional 
answer  to  this  inquiry,  however  contrary  it  may  appear 
to  the  so-called  natural  reason,  or  to  the  Christian 
consciousness,  as  a  final  and  authoritative  answer  from 
the  mind  of  God.  Our  doctrine  implies  an  unwavering 
confidence  that  the  true  point  of  union  for  the  Word 
of  God  in  Scripture  and  the  Word  of  God  in  the  soul 
1  Commentary  on  the  New  Testament,  last  page. 


LECT.  v.]   UNITY  OF  EEASON  AND  THE  WORD  OF  GOD.    165 

of  man  may  be  found.  It  also  obliges  us  to  distinguish 
between  the  eternal  Word  of  God  in  Scripture  and  the 
imperfect  form  in  which  that  Word  may  be  given.  It, 
moreover,  invites  every  reason  to  seek  anew,  and  with 
new  hope  to  find,  this  point  of  union.  The  abiding 
confidence  of  the  believer  who  strives  to  interpret  the 
Scriptures  reasonably  is,  that,  when  thus  interpreted, 
they  will  show  their  perfect  accord  with  reason.  The 
same  Holy  Spirit  is  in  both  the  book  and  the  soul.» 
The  book  reveals  the  divine  reason  to  the  believing 
soul :  the  believing  soul,  by  use  of  its  divinely  illum- 
ined reason,  apprehends,  discovers,  appropriates,  and 
tests  the  Word  of  God  in  the  book. 

We  cannot,  then,  accept  the  formal  principle  of  Con- 
gregationalism with  the  force  which  it  receives  from  the 
material  principle,  and  at  the  same  time  control  by  some 
human  form  of  words  the  interpretation  of  Scripture. 
This  would  be  no  better  than  bringing  in  at  the  back 
door  the  wolf  we  had  ejected  from  the  front.  Bishop 
Warburton,  in  giving  an  account  of  how,  "by  insen- 
sible degrees  "  "a  very  wicked  usurpation  of  authority 
came  about  in  the  Christian  Church,"  declares,  "  The 
ministers  of  the  Word,  under  pretence  of  interpreting 
it,  took  occasion  to  introduce  their  own  authority." 
"  Tlie  business  of  interpreting  was  at  first  modestly 
assumed,  as  a  mere  act  of  charity,  to  assist  the  brethren 
in  the  study  of  God's  Word."  "  All  that  infallibility," 
says  Robert  Hall,  "which  the  Church  of  Rome  pretends 
to  is  the  right  of  placing  her  interpretation  of  Scripture 
on  a  level  with  the  Word  of  God.  She  professes  to 
promulgate  no  new  revelation,  but  solely  to  render  her 
sense  of  it  binding."  Rev.  Ezra  Stiles,  afterward  presi- 
dent of  Yale  College,  laments  that  some  in  his  day  were 
"fond  of  substituting  human  interpretations  given  by 


166  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

authority  of  councils  and  learned  men,  exacting  that 
the  Sacred  Scriptures  be  understood  ac.cording  to  senses 
fitted  and  defined  in  human  tests."  ^ 

We  conclude,  then,  that  the  formal  principle  of  Con- 
gregationalism, when  understood  in  harmony  with  the 
material  principle,  implies  the  belief  in  the  unity  of 
reason  and  the  Word  of  God  in  Scripture ;  and  that 
it  invites  all  individuals  and  all  churches,  in  this  confi- 
dence of  belief,  to  search  the  Bible  for  themselves,  with 
the  added  confidence  that  the  Christian  consciousness, 
unbound  by  traditional  interpretations  and  forraulat- 
ings  of  Scripture,  is  to  make  ever  new  discoveries 
within,  and  ever  nearer  approaches  to  complete  under- 
standing of,  this  everlasting  Word  of  God. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  understand,  in  both  positive 
and  negative  form,  what  is  meant  by  asserting  that 
the  Word  of  God  in  the  Scripture  is  our  sole  objective 
authority/.  It  is  our  authority,  and  we  have  no  other 
objective  authority.  The  Bible  does  indeed  give,  with 
acknowledged  power  to  obligate,  the  rule  of  faith  and 
discipline  to  the  churches  of  Christ.  Human  creeds  and 
forms  of  words  and  institutions  do  not  with  authority 
give  this  rule.  They  are  helps  to  the  enlightened  Chris- 
tian consciousness  in  arriving,  by  the  understanding  of 
Scripture,  at  such  a  rule.  And  in  speaking  of  the  Bible 
as  furnishing  our  sole  authority,  we  do  not  deny  the 
power  of  divinely  illumined  reason  to  test  and  apprehend 
the  true  Word  of  God :  we  rather  express  our  confidence 
that  its  testing  approbates  the  truths  of  the  Bible  ;  that 
its  apprehending  proves  the  divine  quality  of  that  which 
it  apprehends.  We  co-ordinate,  in  some  sense,  as  Gue- 
rike  and  Rudelbach  have  charged  the  Reformed  Churches 

1  See  liis  remarkable  Discourse  on  Christian  Union,  delivered  in 
1760. 


LECT.  v.]    POSITIVE  SIDE  OF  THE  FORMAL  PRINCIPLE.   167 

with  doing,  the  Word  subjective  and  the  Word  objec- 
tive. In  doing  this  we  do  not  appeal  the  case  to  two 
rival  courts,  where  two  judges  are  likely  to  give  conflict- 
ing decisions ;  but  by  two  vestibules,  or  doors  of  entry, 
we  take  our  appeal  to  one  court,  where  one  Judge,  even 
the  Eternal  Spirit  of  all  truth,  sits  always  enthroned. 
We  acknowledge  that  not  only  popes  and  priests  and 
presbyters  and  learned  doctors,  not  only  councils  and 
synods  and  assemblies,  but  that  all  humblest  believers, 
and  every  most  insignificant  congregation  of  believers, 
have  also  this  right  of  appeal.  And  we  further  ac- 
knowledge, that  the  appeal  may  be  made  again  and 
again,  for  the  court  is  always  sitting ;  and  that  it  must 
be  made  again  and  again,  for  the  decisions  of  the  court 
have  not,  as  yet,  all  been  rendered. 

The  positive  form  of  this  principle  has  certainly  had 
a  characteristic  influence  upon  the  doctrine  and  disci- 
pline of  Congregational  churches.  From  the  beginning 
until  now,  Congregationalists  have  retained  their  confi- 
dence in  the  Bible  as  able  to  give,  and  as  actually  giv- 
ing, the  perfect  rule  of  faith  and  discipline.  They  have 
retained  this  confidence  in  much  more  healthful  and 
symmetrical  form  than  those  churches  which  have  com- 
plained of  their  looseness  of  doctrine.  We  cannot  for- 
get that  in  the  Westminster  Assembly,  while  Thomas 
Goodwin  and  his  coadjutors  had  both  eyes  honestly 
intent  upon  the  Bible,  and  wished  to  settle  all  disputed 
questions  by  fair  reasoning  upon  what  they  saw  there- 
in, Commissioner  Robert  Baillie  and  the  other  Scotch 
advocates  of  National  Presbyterianism  kept  at  least  all 
of  one  eye  intent  upon  the  Scotch  army,  to  the  impress 
of  whose  carnal  power  they  were  looking  for  an  effect 
favorable  to  Scotch  Presbyterianism.  Nor  can  we 
avoid  the  suspicion  that  those  who  do  not  like  to  have 


168  PEINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

reason  exercise  itself  freely  with  testing  or  interpreting 
Scripture  frequently  desire  virtually  to  take  the  appeal 
before  some  much  less  trustworthy  and  respectable 
tribunal. 

As  to  the  fact  that  Congregationalism  has  made  for 
both  its  doctrines  and  institutions  an  honest  research 
of  and  hearty  appeal  to  the  authority  of  the  Scriptures, 
I  need  bring  little  proof  in  addition  to  that  introduced 
in  the  first  Lecture.  We  may  see  the  disposition  and 
practice  of  the  founders  of  our  church  order  illustrated 
in  the  fact  that  the  first  synod  ever  held  in  New  Eng- 
land, the  synod  of  Newton  (afterwards  called  Cam- 
bridge) in  1637,  drew  up  its  decisions  in  such  form  as 
to  follow  the  statement  of  each  particular  Antinomi- 
an  error  with  the  judgment,  We  find  this  contrary  to 
such  and  such  a  text  of  Scriptui-e.  The  motion  of  the 
General  Court  convening  the  synod  of  Cambridge  calls 
upon  that  body  to  "  discuss,  dispute,  and  clear  up  by 
the  Word  of  God  "...  and  "  to  continue  so  doing,  till 
they,  or  the  major  part  of  them,  shall  have  agreed  upon 
one  form  ...  as  that  which  they  judge  agreeable  to 
the  Holy  Scriptures."  We  may  note  also  the  pains 
taken  by  the  synod  of  1662  to  confirm  by  the  Scrip- 
tures its  decisions  respecting  the  questions  of  the  Half- 
way Covenant.  The  noble  words  of  the  Saybrook 
fathers,  especially  when  contrasted  with  the  views  then 
prevalent  in  Christendom,  are  expansive  enough  to 
serve  the  exigencies  of  all  time :  "  That  you  be  im- 
movably and  unchangeably  agreed  in  the  only  sufficient 
and  invariable  rule  of  religion,  which  is  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures. You  ought  to  account  nothing  ancient  that  will 
not  stand  by  this  rule,  and  nothing  modern  that  will."  ^ 
The  Saybrook  Confession  of  Faith  ^  admits  both  the  for- 

1  See  Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  76. 

2  Chaps.  I.,  VI. 


LECT.  v.]  NEGATIVE  SIDE  OF  THE  FORMAL  PEINCIPLE.  169 

mal  and  the  material  principles  in  the  following  terms : 
"  The  whole  counsel  of  God,  concerning  all  things 
necessary  for  his  own  glory,  man's  salvation,  faith,  and 
life,  is  either  expressly  set  down  in  Scripture,  or  by 
good  and  necessary  consequence  may  be  deduced  from 
Scripture  ;  unto  which  nothing  at  any  time  is  to  be 
added,  whether  by  new  revelations  of  the  Spirit,  or  tra- 
ditions of  men.  Nevertheless,  we  acknowledge  the 
inward  illumination  of  the  Spirit  of  God  to  be  neces- 
sary for  the  saving  understanding  of  such  things  as  are 
revealed  in  the  world." 

The  phrase  just  quoted,  which  asserts  that  nothing 
is  at  any  time  to  be  added,  "  whether  by  new  revela- 
tions of  the  Spirit,  or  traditions  of  men,"  brings  before 
our  view  what  I  have  called  the  negative  side  of  the 
formal  principle  of  Congregationalism.  The  Scriptures 
contain  the  sole  objective  authority  for  the  rule  of  faith 
and  discipline.  Placing  the  emphasis  thus,  we  arrive 
at  an  understanding  of  the  attitude  of  our  church  order 
towards  symbols,  creeds,  and  confessions  of  faith.  The 
common-law  principle  conserves  all  these  as  well  as  all 
other  choice  fruits  of  the  experience  of  the  Church  of 
Christ.  It  conserves  them  as  helps  to  an  understand- 
ing of  the  sole  authority,  not  as  authorities  themselves. 
They  are,  indeed,  all  of  them,  in  some  degree,  manifes- 
tations of  the  same  divme  Spirit  who  is  made  known 
through  the  Bible  and  in  the  Christian  consciousness. 
But  they  are  manifestations  as  fragments  of  truth,  as 
progressive  approaches  to  the  perfect  manifestation  of 
truth.  The  application  of  the  formal  principle  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  nature  and  uses  of  creeds,  confessions 
of  faith,  and  symbols,  requires  that  we  shall  in  no  case 
consider  or  put  forward  such  forms  of  words,  either  as 
sources  of  doctrine,  or  as  authoritative  statements  of 


170  PKINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

doctrine,  or  as  final  tests  of  orthodoxy,  or  as  fences 
fixedly  to  limit  the  bounds  of  Christian  communion. 
In  other  words,  the  Bible  is  in  all  these  considerations, 
and  for  all  these  uses,  the  sole  objective  authority  of 
Congregational  churches.  Creeds,  confessions  of  faith, 
and  symbols  may  be  considered,  and  should  be  used,  as 
helps  to  right  doctrine,  and  as  channels  of  communicat- 
ing it  from  its  source  through  the  Christian  conscious- 
ness. They  afford  secondary  and  subordinate  means 
of  testing  orthodoxy,  and  fixing  the  limits  of  Christian 
communion.  But  the  help  may  be  itself  helped;  the 
channel  may  be  mended,  and  connected  anew  with  its 
source.  The  means  of  testing  are  themselves  to  be 
tested :  the  limits  are  not  themselves  immovably  fixed. 

The  attitude  of  freedom  toward  ci^eeds  is  traditional 
and  principled  in  our  church  order.  This  statement 
leads  us  briefly  to  examine  those  celebrated  words, 
ascribed,  on  the  authority  of  Gov.  Winslow's  memory, 
to  John  Robinson,  in  which  he  expressed  his  confidence 
that  "  the  Lord  had  more  light  and  truth  yet  to  break 
forth  out  of  his  Holy  Word."  On  the  one  hand,  these 
words  have  been  restricted  so  as  to  make  Mr.  Robin- 
son's confidence  in  the  breaking-forth  of  more  light  and 
truth  extend  only  to  certain  probable  improvements  in 
church  polity.  On  the  other  hand,  this  restriction  has 
been  called  by  Dr.  J.  P.  Thompson  "a  caricature  of 
these  noble  sentiments."  ^  On  the  one  hand,  and  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  it  must  be  admitted  that  Robinson, 
and,  following  him,  the  New-England  Congregationalists 
generally,  had  no  fault  to  find  with  the  symbols  of  the 
Reformed  Churches  as  statements  of  the  rule  of  faith. 
"  As  to  faith  and  the  holy  sacraments,"  says  Prince 
in  this  very  connection,^  "they  believed  the  doctrinal 

1  See  Article  in  New-Englander,  August,  1860,  p.  334. 

2  New-England  Chronology,  p.  177. 


LECT.  v.]  ATTITUDE   TOWARD   CREEDS.  171 

articles  of  tlie  Chiircli  of  England,  as  also  of  the  Re- 
formed Churches  of  Scotland,  Ireland,  France,  the  Pala- 
tinate, Geneva,  Switzerland,  and  the  United  Provinces, 
to  be  agreeable  to  the  holy  oracles,  .  .  .  differing  from 
them  only  in  matters  purely  ecclesiastical."  The  very 
men  who  drew  up  that  full  statement  of  the  doctrine 
of  church  discipline  which  is  called  the  Cambridge 
Platform  declare  in  their  Preface  that  they  "believe 
and  profess  the  same  doctrine  of  the  truth  of  the  gospel 
which  generally  is  received  in  all  the  Reformed  Churches 
of  Christ  in  Europe ; "  and,  finding  the  "  sum  and  sub- 
stance "  of  the  Westminster  Confession  to  express  their 
judgment,  they  "freely  and  fully  consent  thereunto 
for  the  substance  thereof,"  and  commend  this  confes- 
sion to  the  churches.  This  Westminster  Confession, 
together  with  that  of  Savoy,  the  framers  of  the  Say- 
brook  Confession  of  Faith  declare  to  be  "  most  worthy 
of  repute  and  acceptance."  The  Savoy  Confession, 
already  owned  and  consented  unto  by  the  Synod  of 
1680,  the  Saybrook  fathers  commended  to  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Colony  of  Connecticut,  to  be  approved 
and  established  by  them. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  with  what  understanding, 
and  in  what  way,  did  Joim  Robinson  and  the  framers 
of  these  great  historic  papers  of  our  church  order  accept 
all  thebc  different  creeds?  Let  us,  for  an  answer,  recur 
to  the  words  of  Prince.  We  note,  that,  in  his  opinion, 
Robinson  and  his  followers  believed  these  doctrinal 
articles  "  to  he  agreeable  to  the  holy  oracles^  It  was, 
then,  because  the  creeds  could  bear  the  testing  of  Scrip- 
ture, and  as  always  subject  to  this  testing,  that  these 
men  accepted  the  creeds.  And  they  accepted  all  of 
them,  from  Ireland  to  the  United  Provinces,  and  from 
Scotland   to  Switzerland :    they  believed  the  doctrinal 


172  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lbct.  v. 

articles  of  the  Church  of  England  as  well  as  those  of 
the  Reformed  Churches.  This  is  surely  a  catholic  spirit, 
and  one  very  different  from  that  which  limits  commun- 
ion to  the  standards  of  a  denomination  or  sect.  But 
how  could  they  have  accepted  all  these  creeds  without 
distinguishing  between  those  great  articles  of  faith 
which  they  all  had  in  common,  and  those  minor  but 
erroneous  articles  which  some  of  them,  as,  for  instance, 
the  Church  of  England,  not  only  then  had,  but  also 
have  retained  to  this  day  ?  Plainly  it  is  for  substance 
of  doctrine,  with  a  liberal  interpretation  of  the  phrase, 
that  Prince  hands  in  the  adherence  of  the  Leyden  Con- 
gregationalists  to  so  many  of  the  creeds  of  Christendom. 
But  what,  in  the  opinion  of  Prince,  was  the  thought  of 
Robinson  as  he  spoke  his  entire  confidence  that  "the 
Lord  had  more  light  and  truth  to  break  forth  out  of  his 
Holy  Word "'  ?  Surely  it  was  the  thought  of  a  free  and 
full  research  by  the  individual  Christian  into  the  Bible 
for  every  kind  of  truth  to  be  discovered  there.  This  is 
apparent  when  we  consider  the  intent  of  the  author  in 
quoting  the  words  which  tradition  imputed  to  Robin- 
son. Prince  is  engaged  in  proving  that  the  pastor  of 
Leyden  and  his  people  were  not  rigid  Separatists,  or 
Brownists.  Hornius  had  called  them  Robinsonians. 
But  so  generous  were  their  principles,  that  they  would 
have  refused  to  be  called  after  the  name  of  any  man ; 
"since"  —  and  mark  the  absolute  universality  of  this 
declaration  —  "•  they  renounced  all  attachment  to  any 
mere  human  systems,  or  expositions  of  the  Scripture, 
and  reserved  an  entire  and  perpetual  liberty  of  search- 
ing the  inspired  records,  and  of  forming  both  their  prin- 
ciples and  practice  from  those  discoveries  they  should 
make  therein."  ^     Now,  no  more  unqualified  and  sweep- 

1  The  Italics  are  ours;  but  they  only  bring  out  fairly  and  clearly  the 
thought  of  the  author. 


LECT.  v.]  ATTITUDE   TOWAED   CEEEDS.  173 

ing  statement  than  this  could  possibly  be  made.  All 
the  "mere  human  systems  and  expositions  of  Scrip- 
ture "  referred  to  in  this  declaration  contained  mainly 
articles  of  faith  and  statements  of  doctrine  ;  but  Robin- 
son and  his  people,  according  to  Prince,  renounced  "all 
attachment "  to  them  all.  They  in  principle  rejected 
the  authority  of  every  creed ;  though  in  fact,  and  for 
substance  of  doctrine,  they  believed  a  great  number 
of  creeds.  They  claimed  and  conceded  the  right  of 
every  believer  to  resort,  untrammelled  by  creeds,  to  the 
Holy  Word,  and  to  find,  as  one  taught  by  the  Spirit 
within,  what  the  Spirit  had  previously  taught  in  this 
recorded  Word.  They  could  not,  then,  without  distrust 
of  the  breadth  and  magnanimity  of  the  Word  of  God,  or 
without  great  arrogance  of  pride,  suppose  that  they 
themselves,  or  any  other  Christians,  or  all  other  Chris- 
tians combined,  had  found  and  received  and  stated  in 
creeds  the  entire  truth  of  God,  either  with  respect  to 
faith  or  discipline.  It  is  in  proof  of  this  sweeping 
statement  of  his  own,  that  Prince  cites  the  well-known 
words  of  Robinson :  we  cannot  doubt  that  Prince  sup- 
posed them  to  have  reference  to  the  whole  sphere  of 
Christian  truth.  To  the  Bible  as  an  ever  fresh  and 
perennial  source  of  truth  is  the  believer  to  resort ;  and 
the  fact  that  he  now  agrees  for  substance  of  doctrine 
with  the  forms  of  words  in  which  men  have  hitherto 
expressed  the  results  of  their  researches  of  Scripture 
in  no  way  limits  the  principle  that  these  forms  he  is  at 
liberty  to  test,  to  improve,  to  commend,  to  reject,  accord- 
ing to  what  he  himself  finds  in  research  of  the  same 
Scripture. 

And  if  Robinson  ever  spoke  the  words  ascribed  to 
him,  or  words  to  the  same  effect,  as  we  do  not  doubt 
he  often  did,  we  can  scarcely  hesitate  as  to  their  inter- 


174  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

pretation.  Robinson  will  not  acid  a  creed  or  a  church, 
to  be  called  after  his  name,  to  those  already  in  existence. 
"  He  charged  us,  before  God  and  his  blessed  angels,  to 
follow  him  no  further  than  he  followed  Christ."  All 
truth,  by  whomsoever  revealed,  is  to  be  received.  Any 
other  man  might  as  well  as  himself  be  an  instrument  of 
the  impartation  of  truth,  and  there  is  more  truth  still 
to  come  from  its  source  in  the  Word  of  God.  That 
this  statement  in  the  thought  of  Robinson  himself 
might  include  the  more  strictly  doctrinal  truth,  as  well 
as  that  more  strictly  relating  to  the  discipline  of  the 
Church,  is  manifest  by  the  lament  which  accompanies 
his  expression  of  confidence.  Robinson  is  said  to  com- 
plain that  "  the  Lutherans  could  not  be  drawn  to  go 
beyond  what  Luther  saw."  In  respect  to  church  order 
alone  or  chiefly  ?  \yas  the  complaint  because  the  Lu- 
therans would  not  turn  Presbj^terians,  and  follow  the 
lead  of  Calvin  in  his  discipline  of  the  Church?  Cer- 
tainly not.  It  was  because  the  Lutherans  rejected  all 
the  improvements  in  doctrine  of  the  Reformed  Churches, 
and  did  this  in  blind  adherence  to  a  partisan  creed  and 
to  the  exalted  name  of  a  human  leader.  They  would 
not  examine  to  see  whether  new  truth  and  light  had 
not  broken  forth  out  of  God's  Word  through  Calvin. 
And  as  to  the  Calvinists,  they  had  done  little  better: 
they  were  sticking  where  Calvin  had  left  them.  In 
respect  to  church  order  alone?  Certainly  not.  In  re- 
spect to  their  entire  attitude  toward  all  truth.  The 
name  and  creed  and  church  discipline  of  Calvin  were 
a  finality  with  them.  But  you,  adds  this  venerated 
teacher,  are  not  to  be  bound  by  names  and  creeds  as 
ultimata  of  truth.  By  your  church  covenant  you  are 
"  engaged  with  God  and  one  another  to  receive  whatever 
light  or  truth  shall  be  made  known  to  you  from  his 
written  Word." 


LECT.  v.]  ATTITUDE   TOWARD    CREEDS.  175 

We  notice,  also,  that  the  framers  of  the  Cambridge 
Platform  subscribe  for  sum  and  substance  to  the  West- 
minster Confession ;  not  that  they  may  bar  out  from 
themselves  heretics  in  their  own  land,  but  that  they 
may  manifest  their  real  union  in  faith  with  their  breth- 
ren in  foreign  lands.^  Even  the  Saybrook  fathers  offer 
their  Confession  of  Faith  as  their  "  firm  persuasion,  well 
and  fully  grounded  upon  the  Holy  Scripture  ; "  and,  not 
assuming  that  any  thing  should  be  taken  upon  trust 
from  them,  they  exhort  the  people,  in  several  heads  of 
exhortation,  to  search  the  Scriptures,  and  to  remember 
that  the  Word  of  God  must  be  the  foundation  of  their 
faith,  and  the  authority  of  the  Word  the  reason  of  it.^ 

Manifold  other  illustrations  of  the  negative  force  of 
this  formal  principle  of  Congregationalism  might  be 
given.  No  formulas  of  doctrine,  however  composed  by 
men  of  learning  and  authority,  can  be  received  as 
giving  authoritatively  the  rule  of  faith  and  discipline. 
From  this  general  statement  of  what  the  Scripture  is, 
and  what,  therefore,  the  creeds  are  not,  we  may  derive 
the  following  three  particulars  :  — 

The  creed  is  in  no  sense  a  source  of  doctrine,  or  an 
instrument  of  authority.  The  creed  is  to  be  used  for 
the  expression  and  explication  of  doctrine,  not  primarily 
for  its  establishment.  The  right  historical  and  philo- 
sophical use  of  symbols  and  confessions  of  faith  in  the 
formation  of  doctrinal  systems  is  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant acquisitions  of  theology.  These  all  exhibit  to 
the  student  of  this  science  the  growing  development 
of  Christian  consciousness  in  its  understanding  of  the 
Word  of  God.     They  are,  so  far  as  they  are  true,  from 

1  Note  the  woj-tls  of  the  Preface,  beginning,  "  The  more  we  discern," 
etc.;  "  For  this  end,"  etc.  ;  and  "  Now  by  this  our  professed  consent." 

2  See  the  Preface,  "  This  Confession  of  Faith  we  offer,"  etc. 


176  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

the  same  fountain,  in  the  self-revelation  of  God,  from 
which  the  Scriptures  themselves  are.  The  Scriptures 
are  a  source  of  doctrine  such  as  the  creeds  cannot 
become ;  but  the  latter  are  channels  for  the  distribu- 
tion and  manifestation  of  tliis  doctrine. 

The  formulated  rules  of  faith  which  the  Church  uses 
are  never,  therefore,  completed  expressions  or  final  tests 
of  the  divine  rule  of  faith.  Changes  in  creeds,  and  im- 
provements in  statement  of  doctrine,  are  to  be  sought 
and  expected.  Changes  are  to  be  adopted  whenever 
they  are  made  clear  to  the  Christian  consciousness  as 
real  and  helpful  improvements  coming  out  of  the  di- 
vine Word.  The  younger  Edwards,  in  accordance  with 
this  application  of  the  principle,  could  claim,  that,  "on 
the  great  subject  of  necessity  and  liberty,  his  father 
made  very  important  im]3rovements." 

Every  believer  has,  therefore,  the  right,  and  is  under 
the  obligation,  to  study,  discern,  promulgate,  and  defend 
the  truths  of  the  gospel.  For  these  ends  he  may  go 
himself  to  the  Scriptures,  and  from  them  form,  in  hum- 
ble and  prayerful  dependence  upon  the  Holy  Spirit,  his 
views  of  divine  truth.  "Every  man,"  says  Prince,^  "has 
a  right  of  judging  for  himself,  of  trying  doctrines  by 
them."  Both  minister  and  congregation  have  freedom 
of  inquiry  into  the  truth  of  God  as  taught  in  his  Word, 
untrammelled  by  creeds,  unterrified  by  suspicions  of 
heresy,  or  threats  of  disfellowship  from  their  brethren. 
This  attitude  toward  Scripture  and  creed  puts  pre-enii- 
nent  honor  on  the  Scripture,  but  does  not  dishonor  the 
creed.  And  this  attitude  is  safest.  "  He  who  attempts 
to  read  the  Bible  through  a  creed,"  says  Dr.  Thompson, 
"  is  like  Galileo  attempting  to  read  the  heavens  through 
the  catechism,  instead  of  a  telescope."     What  twisted 

1  New-England  Chronology,  p.  177. 


LECT.  v.]      CONGREGATIONALISM   AS   A   PRINCIPLE.         177 

exegesis  results  from  the  attempt  to  interpret  the  hea- 
vens of  revehition  through  a  formuhi,  we  may  judge 
from  the  Presbyterian  Book  of  Discipline.^ 

The  more  honest  and  thorough  application  of  the 
principle  that  the  Word  of  God  in  the  Scriptures  fur- 
nishes the  sole  objective  authority  for  the  churches  of 
Christ,  both  in  the  positive  and  in  the  negative  form  of 
that  principle,  is  distinctive  of  Congregationalism.  But 
the  extent  to  which  the  principle  is  applied  constitutes 
another  distinguishing  feature  of  our  church  order. 
This  sole  objective  authority  extends  to  the  constitution, 
discipline,  and  worship  of  the  Christian  Church.  The 
formal  principle  asserts,  then,  that  the  Word  of  God  is 
designed  to  furnish,  and  does  actually  furnish,  a  guide 
for  the  leading  of  Christ's  people  in  a  church  way.  The 
constitution  and  government  of  churches  is  ordered  by 
the  Spirit,  speaking  through  the  principles  of  the  New. 
Testament  germane  to  this  subject,  and  also  speaking 
by  the  example  of  the  churches  of  the  New  Testament 
as  they  were  founded  by  the  apostles :  the  constitution 
and  government  of  churches  is  ordered  by  the  Spirit  of 
God  to  be  after  a  certain  type.  This  may  seem  a  very 
High-Church  tenet,  may  seem  somewhat  too  much  like 
various  misapplications  of  the  doctrine  of  divine  right : 
it  is,  however,  both  in  fact  and  in  logic,  an  element  of 
the  formal  principle  of  our  church  order.  Our  fathers 
in  the  faith  never  formed  their  Congregational  churches 
as  a  matter  merely  of  convenience  or  temporary  expe- 
diency. Convenience  does  not  force  men  in  conscience 
to  separate  from  the  State  Church :  expediency  is  no 
guide  to  persecution.  Principle  must  lay  hold  of  men 
when  they  are  to  face  angry  bishops  and  kings  for  the 

1  See,  e.g.  book  I.,  chap.  viii.  sect.  2,  note,  and  chap.  ix.  sect  6,  note. 
Compare  the  remarks  in  Dr.  Dexter,  Congregationalism,  p.  53,  f. 


178  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

sake  of  associating  themselves  together  as  Christians  in 
a  certain  form  of  the  Church  state.  It  has  been  fashion- 
able among  Congregationalists,  for  more  than  a  half- 
century,  to  look  upon  the  constitution  and  discipline 
and  worship  of  churches  as  matters  which  believers 
may  rightly  undertake  very  nearly  as  seems  right  in 
their  own  sight.  It  has  been  considered  the  only  true 
liberality  to  be  indifferent  on  grounds  of  principle  to 
one's  form  of  church  government :  to  be  facile  in  mak- 
ing changes  from  one  form  to  another  has  been  counted 
a  mark  of  freedom  from  bigotry.  It  has  even  been 
made  a  matter  of  conscience  to  depart,  and  to  aid  others 
to  depart,  from  the  New-Testament  way  of  organizing 
and  managing  Christian  churches.  Now,  whether  this 
view  which  converts  adherence  to  our  principles  of 
church  order  into  a  shallow  and  barren  expediency  be 
true  in  theory  or  not,  it  is  certainly  far  from  being  true 
to  the  facts  of  our  history.  The  true  church  polity 
never  could  have  raised  its  head  above  the  surface,  if 
its  original  seed  had  been  sown  in  such  a  field  as  this ; 
and  it  will  never  show,  and  ought  never  to  show,  any 
thrift  in  self-propagation,  if  its  growth  is  expected  from 
such  a  seed-thought  as  this. 

The  argument  from  Scripture  to  prove  that  the 
Christian  churches  of  the  New  Testament  were  Congre- 
gational churches,  and  that  the  very  principles  and 
method  and  form  of  their  foundation  show  them  to  be 
designed  as  models,  for  substance  of  that  doctrine  of  the 
Church  which  they  presen-t,  to  all  churches  of  Christ 
to  the  end  of  time,  has  been  frequently  and  minutely 
and  convincingly  made.^  The  early  writers  elaborated 
it  very  fully,  because  they  were  working  wholly  along 

1  Among  more  recent  writers,  especially  in  Dr.  Baxter's  Congrega- 
tionalism, etc. 


LECT.  v.]     CONGREGATIONALISM   AS   A  PRINCIPLE.         179 

the  line  of  its  idea.  Their  entire  purpose  was  to  dis- 
cover and  promulgate  the  New-Testament  doctrine  of  a 
Christian  Church.  "  As  to  ecclesiastical  matters,"  says 
Prince,  "  they  held  the  following  articles  to  be  agreeable 
to  Scripture  and  reason."  The  "  following  articles " 
are  ten  heads  of  doctrine  concerning  the* constitution, 
discipline,  and  worship  of  the  churches  of  Christ.^  And 
the  author  pertinently  adds,  "  These  were  the  main 
principles  of  that  scriptural  and  religious  liberty  for 
which  this  people  suffered  in  England,  fled  to  Holland, 
traversed  the  ocean,  and  sought  a  dangerous  retreat  in 
these  remote  and  savage  deserts  of  North  America,  that 
here  they  might  fully  enjoy  them,  and  leave  them  to 
their  last  posterity." 

Upon  this  view  of  the  formal  principle  of  Congrega- 
tionalism,—  the  view  which  was,  without  doubt,  held 
by  our  fathers, — let  us  weigh  the  following  remarks. 

This  view  makes  Congregationalism  a  matter  of  prin- 
ciples to  which  the  believer  is,  by  the  law  of  the  au- 
thority of  Scripture,  bound  to  adhere.  He  may  not 
accept  at  his  pleasure  these  principles,  and  then  at  his 
pleasure  lay  them  one  side.  Is,  then,  —  do  you  ask?  — 
every  Christian  bound  to  become  a  Congregationalist? 
In  reply  I  may,  first  of  all,  say.  Every  Congregationalist 
is  bound  to  be  such  as  a  matter  of  principle.  The  pla- 
cidity of  expediency  has  no  more  place  with  us  than  the 
irritation  of  sectarianism.  We  hold  our  church  order, 
if  at  all,  from  the  New  Testament.  Whatever  habits 
we  may  ourselves  have  contracted  which  are  contrary 
to  these  principles,  we  are,  by  the  principles,  bound  as 
rapidly  as  possible  to  change  :  whatever  improvements 
we  can  make  in  the  manifestation  of  these  principles,  we 
are  at  liberty  to  make.     And  as  to  others  I  may  say,  in 

1  See  New-England  Chronology,  p.  177,  f. 


180  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

the  second  place,  Every  believer  is  obligated  to  accept 
and  carry  out,  as  far  as  possible,  the  principles  of  the 
New  Testament  with  respect  to  the  ordering  of  Christian 
churches,  as  with  respect  to  every  tiling  else.  The  doc- 
trine of  the  Church,  its  due  constitution,  discipline,  and 
worship,  is  a  .doctrine  of  no  mean  order  in  the  Christian 
system  of  truth.  It  is  intimately  connected  with  the 
doctrine  of  Sacred  Scripture  and  with  the  doctrine  of 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  doctrines  of  regeneration,  of  the 
sacraments,  of  sanctification,  and  even  of  Christ  as  the 
sole  Mediator  and  Teacher  of  men,  are  intimately  con- 
nected with  it.  Every  believer  is  obligated,  then,  to 
embrace  the  principles  of  Congregationalism  just  so 
fast  and  so  far  as  he  can  see  them  to  be  principles  of  the 
New  Testament.  But  so-called  Congregational  churches 
may  in  fact  abandon  their  principles,  and  churches  still 
called  by  another  name  may  in  fact  accept  those  prin- 
ciples ;  and,  without  doubt,  the  obligation  to  be  some- 
how connected  with  the  visible  church  of  Christ  is  a 
higher  obligation  than  to  be  connected  with  a  church 
of  any  particular  order. 

This  view  show  us  how  the  High-Church  doctrine  of 
the  right  of  our  church  order  to  universal,  acceptance 
may  be  combined  with  great  catholicity.  Our  fathers 
held  this  doctrine,  and  yet  they  were,  for  their  times 
and  circumstances,  eminently  catholic.  They  separated 
from  the  Church  of  England,  and  yet  they  hated  secta- 
rianism. They  regarded  that  New- Testament  polity 
which  they  had  rediscovered  as  the  only  solvent  of 
sects.  It  is  only  in  and  through  a  return  to  the  scrip- 
tural idea  of  the  Church,  that  John  Owen  hopes  for  the 
final  and  sound  healing  of  all  the  scars  and  sores  of 
schism.  When  the  churches  of  his  day,  by  considering 
the   life   and   spirit   of  the   apostolic  churches,  should 


LECT.  v.]  THE   SOLVENT   OF   SECTS.  181 

learn  to  walk  in  the  same  principle  of  grace  in  which 
they  walked,  and  to  renounce  every  thing  foreign  to  it, 
the  great  end  of  unity  would  be  secured.  The  '•''com- 
mon way,''''  of  setting  up  "  standards  and  measures  of 
agreement,"  or  the  "middle  way,"  of  reconciling  parties 
by  umpiring  all  their  differences,  will,  in  his  opinion, 
never  succeed.  "  Endless  disappointments,"  "  new  dif- 
ferences and  digladiations,"  will  attend  these  ways. 
There  is  but  one  way  available,  —  the  way  of  conform- 
ity to  the  pattern  of  the  New  Testament,  which  is  ac- 
cording to  the  mind  of  Christ.^  And  the  thought  of 
Owen  is  the  same  as  that  of  Dr.  Foster,  when  he  de- 
clares, "  If  we  are  content  with  the  Scripture  rule, 
we  may  unite  in  affection  and  brotherly  communion, 
though  we  cannot  in  opinion." 

The  unity  of  the  Word  of  God  in  Scripture  and 
the  witness  of  sanctified  human  reason,  as  a  unity  which 
evinces  and  tests  the  claim  of  the  Bible ;  the  sole  au- 
thority of  this  Word,  both  in  the  positive  form  of  the 
statement,  as  asserting  the  obligations  of  adherence  to 
the  Scripture,  and  in  the  negative  form,  as  denying  the 
power  of  the  creed  to  place  the  believer  under  similar 
obligations  to  the  creed ;  the  extending  of  this  author- 
ity of  the  Word  to  the  constitution,  discipline,  and 
worship  of  the  churches  of  Christ,  —  these  are  the  three 
elements  of  doctrine  which  have  rendered  the  formal 
principle  of  Congregationalism  somewhat '  distinctive 
and  unique. 

I  close  this  Lecture  with  an  illustration  of  its  main 
truths,  taken  from  a  recent  dispute  which  has  somewhat 
agitated  our  writers  upon  church  polity,  as  well  as  cer- 
tain of  our  churches. 

1  See  the  treatise  On  the  Spirit,  Book  ix.  chap.  v.  The  section  begin- 
ning "  There  are  many  sore  divisions  at  this  day  "  is  especially  worthy 
of  careful  study. 


182  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

From  the  Minutes  for  1878  of  the  ecclesiastical  body 
whose  action  will  be  briefly  passed  in  review  before  this 
formal  principle  of  Congregationalism,  I  extract  the 
following  words :  — 

Resolved,  That  the  General  Convention  of  Congregational 
chnrches  of  Vermont  understand  that  to  be  a  pastor  of  a  Congre- 
gational church  indicates  and  requires  the  acceptance  of  the  his- 
toric belief  of  these  churches  as  it  has  been  from  time  to  time 
expressed  by  their  representative  assemblies ;  and  that  to  remain 
pastor  of  a  Congregational  church,  and  to  claim  denominational 
fellowship  with  our  churches  and  ministers,  after  any  substantial 
part  of  this  historic  belief  has  been  repudiated,  is  considered  by 
us  as  a  breach  of  faith,  and  inconsistent  with  honor  and  Christian 
character. 

Upon  this  earlier  form  of  the  celebrated  Vermont 
Resolution  I  venture  these  strictures.  The  spirit  which 
animates  these  words  is  apparently  adverse  to  the  spirit 
which  has  habitually  breathed  through  the  first  of  the 
two  fundamental  principles  of  our  church  order.  Of 
other  and  private  reasons  for  estimating  these  words 
thus  unfavorably,  we  have  no  right  to  know  or  take 
account.  We  judge  the  animating  spirit  by  the  words 
which  here  body  it  forth.  That  spirit  as  clothed  in 
these  words  seems  obviously  one  to  be  deprecated  and 
rebuked.  The  noble  habit  of  Congregationalism  has 
been  to  declare  its  adherence  to  the  common  faith  in 
the  spirit  of  communion,  and  in  a  form  to  unite,  rather 
than  to  separate,  brethren  in  Christ.  The  Cambridge 
Platform,  in  the  declaration  of  its  Preface  accepting  for 
substance  the  Westminster  Confession,  and  the  Say- 
brook  Confession  of  Faith  in  its  acceptance  of  the 
Savoy  Creed,  show  the  spirit  of  unity  in  the  very  words 
they  employ.  The  Vermont  Resolution  is  nothing  if  it 
be  not  a  declaration  of  orthodoxy.  But  such  a  decla- 
ration  should   always    be  made   by  Congregationalists 


LECT.  v.]  THE   VERMONT   RESOLUTION.  183 

in  a  fraternal  and  uniting  v/aj.  Yet  here  is  involved 
the  assumption  that  some  persons  are  claiming  denomi- 
national fellowship  after  having  "repudiated''  (mark  the 
offensiveness  of  the  term)  some  substantial  part  of  the 
historic  belief.  Here  is  talk  of  conduct  in  Congrega- 
tional pastors  which  is  a  "  breach  of  faith,"  and  "  incon- 
sistent with  honor;  "  of  conduct,  indeed,  which  is  below 
the  moral  standard  of  the  world  in  ordinary  business 
affairs.  No  subsequent  denial  of  intention  can  change 
the  laws  of  language,  and  of  the  human  mind  in  receiv- 
ing impressions  from  forms  of  language.  The  spirit  of 
this  resolution  certainly  seems,  when  compared  with 
that  of  all  worthy  declarations  of  orthodox}^  made  by 
gatherings  of  Congregationalists,  as  uncongregational 
as  it  is  unfortunate.  The  resolution  does  not  read  like 
one  fit  to  follow  by  two  centuries  and  a  half  the  words 
of  John  Robinson  of  Leyden. 

We  note  also  of  this  earlier  resolution,  that  it  omits  al'l 
recognition  of  the  great  formal  principle  of  our  church 
order.  In  all  creeds,  symbols,  confessions  of  faith,  and 
declarations  of  orthodoxy,  or  statements  of  agreement 
with  brethren  of  other  churches  in  the  essentials  of 
Christian  doctrine,  this  principle  should  somehow  be 
recognized:  it  is  better  that  it  should  be  distinctly 
expressed.  Perhaps  this  feeling  led  the  framers  of  the 
Vermont  Resolution  in  its  second  form  to  make  some 
mention  of  the  Word  of  God,  and  even  to  allude  to  it 
as  "  our  only  rule  of  faith."  But  it  is  scarcely  a  suffi- 
cient excuse  for  this  omission  in  the  earlier  resolution, 
to  say  that  the  principle  was  assumed  as  a  matter  of 
course,  was  deemed  too  well  admitted  to  need  expres- 
sion in  words ;  for  the  fact  is  by  no  means  so.  Indeed, 
from  this  resolution  itself  we  should  be  forced  to 
judge  it  far  from  so.     And  we  may  inquire,  What  tem- 


184  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHUECH   POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

porary  obscuration  had  the  formal  principle  of  Congre- 
gationalism suffered  in  the  mean  time,  that  it  should 
need  mention  in  the  year  1879,  and  need  no  acknowl- 
edgment in  the  year  1878?  It  has  been  the  time- 
honored  and  honorable,  and  only  safe  custom  of  Con- 
gregationalism to  acknt)"wledge  and  avow  its  formal 
principle  whenever  making,  in  any  form,  declaration 
of  adherence  to  the  faith.  We  are  reminded  at  this 
point  of  the  biting  sarcasm  with  which  the  Ipswich 
pastor.  Rev.  John  Wise,  wrote  of  the  sixteen  proposals 
to  consociate  the  churches  of  Massachusetts,  because 
these  proposals  made  no  mention  of  the  Word  of  God : 
"  It  is  turned  so  naked  into  the  world  as  not  to  have  the 
least  tincture  of  Scripture  to  guard  it  from  contempt ; 
no,  not  so  much  as  a  citation  that  might  admit  of  so 
much  as  a  strained  consequence  in  its  defence."  ^ 

These  patent  objections,  and  still  others  as  patent, 
secuaed  the  displacement  of  this  form  of  the  resolu- 
tion by  another  form,  which  was  offered  in  the  Conven- 
tion of  1879,  by  the  committee  to  whom  the  earlier  form 
was  referred.  The  second  form  of  the  Vermont  Reso- 
lution reads  as  follows :  — 

Resolved,  That  the  General  Convention  of  Congregational  Min- 
isters and  Churches  of  Vermont,  while  recognizing  the  entire 
absence  of  authority  in  the  convention  over  the  churches,  under- 
stands that  to  be  pastor  of  a  Congregational  church  indicates  and 
requires  the  acceptance  of  the  Word  of  God  —  which  is  our  only  rule 
of  faith  —  as  teaching  the  doctrines  commonly  called  evangelical, 
held  in  our  chm'ches  from  the  early  times,  and  sufficiently  set  forth 
by  former  General  Councils,  notably  by  the  councils  at  Boston  and 
Oberlin  ;  and  that  the  repudiation  of  any  substantial  part  of  these 
doctrines  (held  in  common  by  all  evangelical  churches)  is  consid- 
ered by  us  as  inconsistent  with  continued  claim  to  denominational 
fellowship  with  our  ministers  and  churches. 

1  Churches  Quarrel  Espoused,  5th  query. 


LECT.  7.]  THE   VERMONT   RESOLUTION.  185 

We  note  a  decided  improvement  in  this  form  of  the 
resolution  as  compared  with  the  first,  in  that  the  formal 
principle  of  Congregationalism  is  here  openly  avowed. 
Yet  the  manner  of  the  avowal  is  still  such  as  to  contain 
a  constructive  denial  of  the  same  principle.  We  have 
already  seen  that  tliis  principle  refuses  to  send  the 
believer  for  his  rule  of  faith  to  the  Word  of  God  as 
interpreted  in  and  through  any  form  of  creeds.  Such 
a  form  of  holding  the  principle  covertly  destroys  it 
while  openly  avowing  allegiance  to  it.  Does,  then,  this 
resolution  mean  simply  to  state,  that,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  Congregationalists  do  interpret  the  Scriptures  in 
substantial  accord  with  their  brethren  of  the  different 
denominations  called  evangelical?  or  does  it  mean  to 
erect  the  so-called  evangelical  creeds  as  interpretations 
of  Scripture  into  a  rule  of  faith  for  Congregational 
pastors  co-ordinate  with,  or  even  superior  to,  the  Scrip- 
ture itself?  With  the  former  meaning,  the  statement 
would  be  one  of  simj^le  truthfulness  to  fact.  If  the 
resolution  meant  the  former  fact,  it  should  so  have 
stated  its  meaning  as  to  have  admitted  of  no  misun- 
derstanding :  having  done  this,  it  would  have  removed 
all  formidable  objection.  If  it  meant  the  latter  opin- 
ion, it  covertly  denied  the  very  principle  it  openly 
asserted.  There  is  for  Congregationalism  only  one 
objective  rule  of  faith:  tliis  is  the  Word  of  God  in  the 
Bible  as  seen  in  its  unity  with  the  Christian  conscious- 
ness, its  interpreter.  The  resolution  seems  to  imply 
that  the  interpretation  of  the  Christian  consciousness 
is  finished  and  set  forth  in  obligator^/  form  by  the  creeds 
of  our  former  general  councils.  Such  a  doctrine  would 
certainly  have  greatly  shocked  John  Robinson  and  the 
founders  of  Congregationalism.  To  this  interpretation 
of  the  resolution  we  are,  however,  almost  forced  by  the 


186  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHCTRCH  POLITY.  [lect.  v. 

fact  that  the  motion  to  amend,  by  adding  the  following 
words,  "  Provided  that  nothing  herein  affirmed  be  con- 
strued as  a  denial  of  the  right  of  appeal  from  all  human 
creeds  to  the  Word  of  God,"  was  lost  by  a  large  ma- 
jority. 

And,  should  it  be  claimed  that  the  entire  transaction 
was  instituted  in  this  convention  in  the  interests  of  the 
entire  denomination,  we  have  no  question  to  raise  con- 
cerning the  motives  of  those  brethren  who  were  its 
supporters.  But  the  wisdom  of  their  proceeding  would 
doubtless  have  been  described  by  the  author  just  quoted 
in  such  terms  as  he  applied  to  the  advocates  of  the 
before-mentioned  sixteen  proposals  :  "  They  appear  (in- 
deed) something  in  the  manner  of  Nehemiah's  men  on 
the  wall  (Neh.  iv.  17).  As  it  were  with  a  trowel  in 
one  hand,  with  which  they  now  and  then  put  on  a 
little  untempered  mortar,  to  plaister  over  a  thing  or 
two,  where  the  old  work  bj^  length  of  time  is  somewhat 
weather-beaten,  to  pacify  the  jealousies  of  the  inhab- 
itants, that  they  may  think  these  builders  (surely)  are 
mending  and  not  marring  their  old  comfortable  habita- 
tion. But  in  reality  they  have  in  the  other  hand  a 
formidable  maul,  not  as  Nehemiah's  weapon  to  defend, 
but  to  break  down,  the  building ;  for  they  are  all  hands 
at  work  banging  the  platform  in  pieces  upon  which  the 
old  fabrick  is  built."  ^ 

If  the  length  at  which  the  formal  principle  of  Congre- 
gationalism has  been  treated  in  this  Lecture  should 
seem  somewhat  out  of  proportion  to  the  satisfactoriness 
of  the  treatment,  I  beg  to  remind  you  of  the  great  diffi- 
culty of  this  theme.  Upon  it  we  are  confident  there 
is  yet  "  more  light  and  truth  to  break  forth  out  of  his 
holy  Word." 

1  Rev.  John  Wise  in  Churches  Quarrel  Espoused,  Ith  query. 


LECTURE   VI. 

THE    PEESTCIPLE   OF   A  REGENERATE  MEMBERSHIP. 

Among  the  secondary  or  cleriTed  principles  of  the 
true  church  polity  there  is  no  other  one  so  nearly  pre- 
eminent, both  in  itself,  and  in  its  relation  to  the  remain- 
ing principles  of  the  same  rank,  as  that  of  a  regenerate 
membership.  This  third  one  in  the  order  of  enumera- 
tion is  first  in  the  order  of  logic.  The  visible  church  of 
Christ  should  be  composed  only  of  such  persons  as  give 
credible  evidence  of  having  in  a  godly  way  repented  of 
their  sins,  believed  unto  salvation  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  as  their  divine  Saviour,  and  begun  a  life  of  alle- 
giance to  him  as  their  King.  The  conviction  that  upon 
this  principle  alone  can  the  constitution  of  the  Church 
be  duly  and  safely  placed  was  distinctive,  in  their  time, 
with  the  founders  of  our  church  order.  Nothing  else 
more  pressed  upon  the  consciences,  weighed  in  the  judg- 
ments, and  bore  down  upon  the  hearts,  of  these  men, 
than  the  fact  that  they  were  compelled  by  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  Church  of  England  to  commune,  in  a  church 
way,  with  men  who  were  manifestly  unbelieving  in 
heart,  and  even  flagrantly  unholy  in  life.  To  tolerate 
those  who  differed  from  them  in  the  theory  and  practice 
of  church  government,  they  found  by  no  means  impos- 
sible. To  receive  to  their  communion  the  godly  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  England,  they  by  no  means  re- 

187 


188  PRINCIPLES   OF    CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  vi. 

fused.  They  were  not  unmindful  of  the  obligation  laid 
upon  them  by  the  Word  of  God,  to  be  patient  with 
weakness,  long-suffering  with  error,  gentle  in  giving 
rebuke.  They  did  not  make  conformity  in  creed  a  con- 
dition of  membership  in  their  churches.  Their  com- 
plaint was  not  that  they  might  probably  be  in  church 
bonds  with  those  who  could  not  pronounce  some  Shib- 
boleth in  their  fashion,  or  who  had  honest  mental  dif- 
ficulties with  certain  scriptural  truths.  They  found 
"profane  Atheists,  scandalous  mockers,  and  grossly 
ignorant  persons,"  in  the  so-called  Christian  churches 
of  which  they  were  legally  bound  to  be  members.  The 
pastors  were  required  to  administer  the  sacraments  to 
such :  the  brethren  had  no  power  to  sever  such  from 
their  Christian  brotherhood.  Their  study  of  the  New 
Testament  led  them  to  know  that  the  apostolic  churches 
were  constituted  in  a  different  way:  the  witness  of  their 
pure  consciences  led  them  to  believe  that  their  churches 
ought  to  be  constituted  in  the  apostolic  way.  They 
reasoned :  "  Profane  Atheists,  and  scandalous  mockers, 
and  grossly  ignorant  persons,  have  no  spiritual  commun- 
ion with  Christ  (neither  according  to  the  influence  of 
saving  graces,  nor  of  common  gifts)  ;  and  therefore 
such  persons  are  not  to  be  received  members  of  that 
body,  the  church,  whereof  Christ  is  the  head."  ^ 

The  great  importance  of  this  principle,  in  itself  con- 
sidered, is  readily  made  obvious.  But  let  us  see  more 
particularly  what  is  its  relation  to  all  the  other  princi- 
ples of  a  true  church  polity.  Practically  the  law  which 
determines  the  nature  of  the  membership  of  different 
churches  will  determine  much  else  in  all  the  character- 
istics of  their  doctrine  and  life.     The  constitution  of 

1  Words  taken  from  Cotton's  treatise,  Of  the  Holinesse  of  Church- 
Members,  London,  1650,  p.  2(i. 


LECT.  VI.]    PRINCIPLE  OF  REGENERATE  MEMBERSHIP.    189 

the  Church  is  the  fundamental  fact  in  the  order  of  its 
development:  the  laws  followed  in  constituting  any- 
particular  church  organize  the  elements  of  its  subse- 
quent history,  and  determine  what  sort  of  a  church  it 
shall  be  in  unfolding  the  elements  intrusted  to  it  ac- 
cording to  the  working  of  those  laws.  We  cannot, 
indeed,  look  upon  any  particular  church  as  the  mere 
aggregate  of  the  individual  members  which  are  at  any 
one  time  in  the  enjoyment  of  its  communion  ;  but  the 
principles  of  communion  upon  which  it  is  constituted, 
and  according  to  which  it  is  developed,  will  largely  de- 
termine the  nature  of  its  membership.  The  principles 
which  underlie  its  constitution  and  growth,  and  the 
actual  condition  in  doctrine  and  life  of  the  membership, 
will  together  show  us  fully  what  the  church  is.  Differ- 
ent ways  of  constituting  different  churches  have  much 
to  do,  ^  then,  with  their  total  difference.  The  church 
which  requires  from  its  members  assent  to  creeds  will 
differ  from  that  which  requires  credible  evidence  of  so- 
called  saving  faith :  both  of  these  will  differ  from  those 
churches  which  require  only  that  their  mciiubers  shall 
be  born  into  membership. 

The  intimate  and  pre-eminent  influence  of  this  prin- 
ciple, in  its  relation  to  the  other  principles  of  church 
polity,  is  almost  equally  obvious.  It  was  in  no  small 
degree  on  account  of  their  desire  to  secure  the  privilege 
of  separating  themselves  from  the  unregenerate  in  their 
church  life,  that  the  early  Congregationalists  laid  so 
much  emphasis  upon  the  exclusive  rulership  of  Jesus 
Christ.  And,  indeed,  if  Christian  churches  are  not  to 
be  composed  of  those  who  profess  really  to  acknowledge 
Christ  as  both  Saviour  and  King,  it  is  difficult  to  see 
why  they  should  claim  the  right  to  live  as  churches 
solely  under  his  rule.     If  the  members  of  the  "particu- 


190  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  vi. 

lar  visible  churcli "  do  not  themselves  in  fact  acknowl- 
edge Christ  as  their  King,  why  should  they  demand  of 
the  civil  government,  or  of  other  churches,  that  they, 
on  their  part,  acknowledge  the  right  of  the  particular 
visible  church  to  have  no  other  king?  An  institution 
practically  political  may  in  practice  be  required  to  sub- 
mit to  political  rule.  In  other  words,  the  principle  of 
Christ's  kingdom  as  a  spiritual  kingdom  requires  both 
that  its  members  should  be  spiritual  subjects,  and  that 
they  should,  as  such  subjects  of  government,  have  no 
other  ruler  but  their  spiritual  King. 

The  right  working,  also,  of  the  principle  of  individual 
equality  and  self-control  is  dependent  upon  the  validity 
of  this  principle  of  a  regenerate  membership.  He  who 
is  controlled  by  Christ  has  the  right  in  the  church  to 
control  himself:  he  is  the  man  whose  heart  is  in  real 
allegiance  to  Christ.  Popes  and  patriarchs  and  priests 
and  bishops  and  kings  —  claiming  to  have  supreme  or 
pre-eminent  authority  over  their  brethren,  and  setting 
themselves  up  for  vicegerents  of  Christ,  and  heads  of 
the  Churcli  of  Christ  —  have  some  fitness  of  place 
amongst  those  who,  while  making  a  show  of  being  in  a 
spiritual  kingdom,  do  not  claim  to  be  members  of  that 
kingdom  on  spiritual  grounds.  But  the  element  of  in- 
dividualism may  safely  have  freer  play  in  the  visible 
church  of  Christ  when  the  individualism  is  of  that  kind 
known  as  "  sanctified.'"  Doubtless  these  human  authori- 
ties are  providentially  permitted,  and  useful  as  long  as 
the  visible  church  does  not  avowedly  bow  the  heart  of 
each  member  before  the  true  spiritual  authority.  Only 
when  a  man  calls  in  the  spirit  to  the  Saviour  as  his 
Lord  is  he  both  inclined  and  fitted  to  declare  I  have 
no  other  spiritual  lord. 

The  relation  of  the  autonomy  of  the  local  church  to 


LECT.  VI.]    PRINCIPLE  OF  KEGENEEATE  MEMBERSHIP.     191 

this  principle  of  a  regenerate  membership  is  similar 
to  the  relation  just  indicated.  "  Men  adorned  with  a 
double  sett  of  ennobling  immunities  "  have  no  need  to 
be  "  clapt  under  a  government  which  is  arbitrary  and 
despotic."  Particular  visible  churches  must  be  gov- 
erned in  some  way :  the  true,  safe,  and  scriptural  way  is 
that  the}^  should  govern  themselves  by  submission  of  their 
spirits  to  the  mind  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  by  free  asking 
and  gracious  accepting  of  the  advice  of  others  who  have 
the  mind  of  the  Spirit  in  like  manner  with  themselves. 
But  if  by  their  very  constitution  so-called  churches  are 
composed  of  members  who  have  neither  disposition  nor 
ability  thus  to  govern  themselves,  they  must  still  some- 
how be  controlled.  The  lack  of  disposition  and  ability 
does  not,  we  presume,  fatally  belong  to  any  body  of 
regenerate  men,  however  weak  and  erring  ;  although  it 
would  be  difficult,  I  admit,  to  reconcile  the  presumption 
with  all  the  facts.  Moreover,  the  apostolic  method  had 
certain  means  of  disciplining  churches  in  self-control, 
to  which  means  we  should  not  hesitate  to  resort.  Au- 
tonomy belongs  fitly,  then,  only  to  churches  which  are 
constituted  upon  the  basis  of  a  regenerate  membership. 
But  churches  which  have  not  a  regenerate  membership 
cannot  be  expected  to  exercise  a  Christian  and  spiritual 
self-control.  They  must,  then,  to  some  extent,  be  con- 
trolled ab  extra,  and  by  officers  expressing  the  authority 
of  a  historic  system  or  of  an  organized  and  compacted 
ecclesiastical  scheme.  The  one  great  reason  for  any 
seeming  failures  of  the  principle  of  self-control  for  the 
local  church  is  given  in  a  lack  of  Christian  wisdom  and 
Christian  love  within  its  own  membership. 

And,  further,  the  real  and  Christian  communion  of 
churches  is  a  direct  result  from  the  regenerate  character 
of  the  members  of  each  particular  visible  church.     In 


192  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  vi. 

general,  the  law  of  Christian  communion  among  churches 
is  that  the  communion  shall  correspond  to  the  facts. 
The  appearance  of  fellowship  in  life  is  only  the  just  and 
normal  expression  of  the  reality  of  communion  in  the 
spirit.  This  reality  is  secured  by  the  normal  working 
of  the  principle  of  regenerate  membership.  The  re- 
generate heart  loves  its  brother  Christian,  and  longs  for 
fellowship  with  him.  The  regenerate  mind  trusts  the 
deliverances  of  the  Spirit  in  and  through  other  regener- 
ate minds ;  it  naturally  and  necessarily  desires  to  share 
its  wisdom  with  its  brother's  wisdom,  its  love  with  its 
brother's  love  ;  and  it  is  always  interested  in  the  things 
of  Christ's  universal  kingdom.  But  as  to  any  real  com- 
munion of  so-called  churches  whose  members  have  no 
real  love  according  to  the  gospel  for  one  another,  we 
can,  of  course,  have  nothing  at  all  to  say.  There  may 
be  an  organized  uniformity,  but  there  cannot  be  a  real 
Christian  communion,  among  churches  composed  of 
unregenerate  members. 

The  right  adjustment  of  the  principle  of  conservation 
with  that  of  progress  through  individual  inquiry  is  also 
dependent  upon  this  principle  of  a  regenerate  member- 
ship. It  is  through  minds  which  have  been  really  illum- 
ined and  quickened  from  on  high  that  genuine  progress 
comes  to  the  Christian  Church.  Genuine  progress  con- 
serves the  old  truth :  it  also  seeks  out  with  diligence, 
and  receives  with  joy,  the  new.  This  is  the  normal  atti- 
tude of  the  regenerate  soul  toward  truth,  —  an  attitude, 
alas  !  too  often  misdirected,  misunderstood,  and  perse- 
cuted by  the  Church.  But  who  shall  make  this  required 
perpetual  re-adjustment,  if  it  be  not  made  by  minds 
illumined  from  on  high?  Who  shall  take  this  right 
attitude  toward  the  truth  of  God,  if  it  be  not  taken  by 
those  whose  hearts  are  in  the  right  attitude  toward  God 
himself  ? 


LECT.  VI.]    PRINCIPLE  OF  REGENERATE  MEMBERSHIP.    193 

This  principle  of  a  regenerate  membership  is,  then, 
one  of  pre-eminent  importance  to  the  faith  of  Congre- 
gational churches.  It  is  the  working  of  it  which  deter- 
mines the  attitude  of  the  members  of  our  churches  to 
our  common  Christian  faith.  It  is  in  the  light  of  it  that 
we  must  ask  and  answer  the  practical  question,  What 
are  the  requisite  conditions  for  membership  in  the  local 
Congregational  Church?  The  question  can  be  answered 
as  a  question  of  fact,  only  by  collecting  and  collating 
all  the  present  varied  practices  of  the  different  churches. 
It  would  thus  be  made  to  appear  how  many  so-called 
Congregational  churches  are  actually  carrying  out  the 
ancient  principle.  This  we  by  no  means  propose  or 
care  to  do.  As  a  pure  question  of  principle,  —  and  as 
a  question  of  principle  it  is  now  proposed,  —  it  can  be 
answered  by  reference  to  the  foregoing  truths  as  they 
are  evinced  in  the  practice  of  the  apostolic  and  of  the 
early  Congregational  churches. 

The  application  of  the  principle  of  a  regenerate  mem- 
bership involves  two  particulars,  or  rather  it  shows  two 
sides  of  its  one  essential  character.  None  but  those 
who  give  credible  evidence  of  being  true  believers  may 
compose  the  membership  of  a  Congregational  Church. 
Congregational  churches  are  to  afford  the  privileges  of 
Christian  communion  in  a  church  way  by  offering  to 
enter  into  a  covenant  with  all  who  do  give  this  evi- 
dence. As  to  what  is  credible  evidence,  the  Church 
must  in  each  instance,  according  to  its  best  means  of 
obtaining  and  judging  evidence,  make  up  its  mind. 
This  one  principle,  then,  limits  the  action  of  the  Church 
in  two  directions.  The  Church  has  no  right  to  receive 
to  her  communion  persons  whom  she  must  believe  un- 
regenerate.  The  Church  has  no  right  to  exclude  from 
her  communion  any  person  whom  she  may  in  charity 
find  giving  evidence  of  regeneration. 


194  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHUECH   POLITY.         [lect.  vi. 

That  the  Christian  churches  of  whose  constitution 
and  history  we  liave  information  in  the  New  Testament 
were  designedly  founded  upon  the  basis  of  a  new  life 
in  their  members,  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt. 
Those  who  are  received  into  these  churches  are  every- 
where represented  as  holding  their  title  to  membership 
on  the  evidence  that  they  have  become  true  believers 
in  Christ.  Those  who  heard  the  apostle  Peter  at  Pen- 
tecost had  their  hearts  penetrated  with  sharp  pain  on 
account  of  their  sins:  they  were  exhorted  to  change 
their  underlying  moral  purpose,  and  be  baptized  upon 
the  ground  of  their  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus ;  and,  when 
they  had  accepted  this  exhortation  to  salvation,  they 
were  in  fact  baptized.  Those  whom  the  Spirit  of  Christ 
at  that  time  added  daily  to  the  church  are  designated 
as  01  aoi^oixeroi,^  those  already  in  process  of  salvation. 
The  members  of  the  churches  are  designated  as  "  called 
of  Jesus  Christ,"  "  called  saints,"  ^  "  sanctified  in  Christ,"  ^ 
"saints  and  believers  in  Christ  Jesus,"*  "believing 
brethren  in  Christ."  ^  He  who  reads  with  candor  1 
Thess.  i.  1-7  and  2  Thess.  i.  1-4  cannot  doubt  what 
was  the  basis  of  membership  "in  the  earliest  Christian 
churches.  He  who  has  a  high  regard  for  the  thought 
and  wish  of  Christ  as  expressed  in  these  apostolic 
churches  will  be  loath  indeed  either  to  take  from  or 
add  to  those  conditions  of  membership  upon  which  they 
were  founded. 

To  these  conditions  it  was  the  intention  of  modern 

1  Acts  ii.  37,  f.,  41,  47.  2  Rom.  i.  6,  f.  3  1  Cor.  i.  2. 

*  Eph.  i.  1.  UkttoU  is  not  in  this  connection  to  be  translated  "  faith- 
ful," but  believing,  ^dem  m  Christo  reponentibus :  so  Meyer,  De  Wette, 
and  Ellicott,  who  all  also  connect  iv  Xpio-roi  with  ttio-toi!  alone,  the  latter 
remarking  truly  that  the  phrase  implies  union  and  fellowship  with 
Christ. 

5  Clol.  i.  2.  nio-Tor?  should  be  translated  "  believers"  in  this  passage 
also:  so  Grimm  (lexicon),  De  Wette,  and  Meyer,  but  not  Ellicott. 


LECT.  VI.]    EEQUISITES   FOR   CHUECH-MEMBERSHIP.        195 

Congregationalism  to  conform  its  laws  and  practice ; 
although,  in  fact,  both  laws  and  practice  have  at  times 
departed,  and  are  even  at  present  removed,  from  the 
first  intention.  The  doctrine  of  the  Cambridge  Plat- 
form is  in  this  regard  essentially,  but  not  quite  purely, 
apostolic.  This  is  manifest  in  its  definitions  of  the 
matter  and  form  of  a  particular  visible  church.  "  The 
matter  of  a  visible  church  are  saints  by  calling." 
"  Those  who  have  and  show  the  knowledge  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  religion,"  freedom  from  "  gross  and  open  scan- 
dals," "  the  profession  of  their  faith  and  repentance,"  a 
walk  "  in  blameless  obedience  to  the  Word,  so  as  that  in 
charitable  discretion  they  may  be  accounted -saints  by 
calling,"  and  "the  children  of  such,  who  are  also  holy," 
are  the  matter  of  a  visible  church.^  The  form  of  a 
church  is  "  the  visible  covenant,  agreement,  or  consent, 
whereby  they  give  up  themselves  unto  the  Lord,  to  the 
observing  of  the  ordinances  of  Christ,  together  in  the 
same  society,  which  is  usually  called  the  church  cove- 
nant." 2  "  The  things  which  are  requisite  to  be  found 
in  all  church-members  are  repentance  from  sin,  and 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ."  "  These  are  the  things  whereof 
men  are  to  be  examined  at  their  admission  into  the 
church :  "  these  things  they  must  profess  in  such  sort  as 
to  "  satisfy  rational  charity  that  the  things  are  there 
indeed."  ^  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  the  position  of 
the  children  of  those  who  are  saints  by  calling,  when  as 
yet  they  have  not  manifested  "  their  (own)  faith  and 
repentance  by  an  open  j)rofession  thereof,"  is  left  some- 
what equivocal  by  the  Platform.  They  are  declared  to 
belong  to  the  matter  of  a  particular  visible  church ;  they 
are  spoken  of  as  members  of  the  church,  being  "  born 
in  the  same,"  or  having  "received  their  membership" 

1  Chap.  III.  1,  2.  2  Chap.  IV.  3.  s  Chap.  XII.  2. 


196  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  vi. 

"  in  their  infancy  or  minority,  by  virtue  of  the  covenant 
of  their  parents;"  and  yet  they,  too,  must  "manifest 
their  faith  and  repentance  by  an  open  profession  there- 
of before  they  are  received  to  the  Lord's  Supper,"  or 
are  considered  "  capable  of  being  made  partakers  of  full 
communion."  ^  Two  classes  of  persons  called  church- 
members  are  thus  constituted.  The  principle  of  a  re- 
generate membership  is  in  all  this,  in  theory,  fully 
recognized ;  but  the  practice  of  the  churches  is  not 
made  to  conform  to  the  full  recognition,  and  they  are 
thus  left  in  time  partially  to  lose  their  first  and  full- 
est recognition  of  the  principle  itself.  This  effort  to 
combine  the  principle  with  a  practice  which  seemed 
necessary  in  theory,  on  account  of  the  doctrine  of  God's 
covenant  with  believers  in  its  extension  to  their  chil- 
dren, and  indispensable  in  fact,  on  account  of  previous 
and  surrounding  conditions  of  church  life,  gave  much 
trouble  to  New-England  Congregationalism. 

John  Cotton's  treatise,  "  Of  the  Holinesse  of  Church- 
Members,"  2  printed  at  about  the  time  of  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Cambridge  Platform,  attempts  this  question 
of  the  requisites  for  church-membership  in  a  discus- 
sion of  nearly  one  hundred  pages  in  length.  Like  the 
Platform,  this  treatise  maintains  essentially  the  doctrine 
of  a  regenerate  membership  for  the  particular  visible 
church,  and  is  at  the  same  time  conciliatory  in  its 
tone  and  rules  of  practice  toward  the  men  of  a  differ- 
ent view.  "  Such  as  are  born  of  Christian  parents,  and 
baptized  in  their  infancy  into  the  fellowship  of  the 
church,"  are  admitted  to  be  "initiated  members  of  the 
same  church,  though  destitute  of  spiritual  grace."     Yet 

1  Chap.  XII.  7. 

2  Printed  in  London,  1650,  and  addressed  to  his  former  people  in 
Boston,  England. 


LECT.  VI.]     REQUISITES   FOR   CHURCH-MEMBERSHIP.        197 

again  it  is  declared  :  "  Such  persons,  and  such  onely,  are 
lawfully  received  as  members  into  the  fellowship  of  the 
visible  Church,  who  do  before  the  Lord,  and  his  people, 
professe  their  repentance,  and  faith  in  Christ,  and  sub- 
jection to  him  in  his  ordinances."  ^  And  "  such  as  are 
born  and  baptized  members  of  the  church,"  "  unless, 
when  they  grow  up  to  years,"  they  submit  to  the  same 
conditions,  "  are  not  orderly  continued  and  confirmed 
members  of  the  church."  The  same  distinction  be- 
tween members  born,  or  received  in  infancy,  into  the 
church,  and  members  confirmed,  or  in  full  communion, 
which  the  Platform  acknowledges,  is  here  acknowledged 
and  made  more  prominent  by  the  treatise  of  Cotton. 
The  debate  as  to  the  course  which  should  be  taken  with 
those  who,  being  members  in  the  former  sense,  refused 
or  neglected  to  become  members  in  the  latter  sense, 
was  certain  to  arise.  This  debate,  as  I  have  said,  after- 
ward sorely  distracted  the  Congregational  churches  of 
New  England. 

"  Visible  saints,"  says  Hooker,^  "  are  the  only  true 
and  mete  matter  whereof  a  visible  church  should  be 
gathered ; "  and  confederation  (entering  into  a  mutual 
covenant)  is  the  form.  "  If  upon  this  Rock  (Christ 
believed  on  and  publickly  confessed,  by  grown  persons) 
the  Church  of  Christ  is  to  be  built,  then  the  children  of 
the  Church,  who  were  baptized  in  their  infancy,  when 
they  come  to  be  of  ripe  age,  must  hold  forth  publickly 
their  personal  confession  of  faith,"  —  such  is  the  sound 
and  indisputable  conclusion  of  John  Davenport.^ 

To  the  views  of  Hooker  and  Davenport  the  earlier 
and  purer  practice  of  Congregational  churches  in  this 
country  conformed  itself.     None  of  these  churches,  ex* 

1  See  sect.  v.  2  Survey  of  Church  Discipline,  pp.  13,  14, 

8  Power  of  Congregational  Churches,  p.  22. 


198  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.         [lect.  vi. 

cept,  for  a  time,  the  First  Church  in  Dorchester,  seems 
to  have  shown  any  disposition  to  depart  from  the  true 
New-Testament  principle  as  to  the  constitution  of  a 
particular  visible  church.  We  find  that  active  lay 
evangelist.  Dr.  Samuel  Fuller,  disputing  with  Rev.  John 
Warham,  one  of  the  ministers  of  this  church,  because 
the  latter  held  that  the  visible  church  "  may  consist  of 
a  mixed  people,  godly  and  openly  ungodly."  The  result 
of  the  dispute  was  the  conformity  of  the  Dorchester 
church  to  the  practice  of  the  other  churches. 

This  question,  however,  having  become,  as  might  have 
been  foreseen,  a  burning  question,  and  the  authority  of 
the  New  Testament  and  of  the  Cambridge  Platform 
having  been  claimed  for  their  side  by  both  classes  of 
disputants,  it  received  a  different  answer  from  the 
original  one  of  Congregationalism  at  the  hands  of  the 
synods  of  1657  and  1662.  The  declarations  of  these 
synods  show,  not  simply  the  same  confusion  of  language 
which  the  early  theory  manifested  :  they  show  rather  a 
departure  from  the  principle  which  underlies  the  theory 
itself.  "  Church-members  who  were  admitted  in  minor- 
ity, understanding  the  doctrine  of  faith,  and  publicly 
professing  their  faith  thereto,  not  scandalous  in  life, 
and  solemnly  owning  the  covenant  before  the  church," 
are  to  have  the  privilege  of  having  their  children  bap- 
tized. We  note  in  this  provision  these  twa  elements, 
which  both  witness  a  departure  from  the  ancient  view ; 
viz.,  the  prominence  given  to  a  public  intellectual  as- 
sent to  doctrine,  and  the  invitation  given  to  virtual 
hypocrisy,  when  it  is  assumed  that  men  may,  without  a 
change  of  heart,  solemnly  own  before  the  church  a  cove- 
nant in  which  "  they  give  up  themselves  and  children 
to  the  Lord,  and  subject  themselves  to  the  government 
of  Christ  in  the  church."     The  tendency  here  plainly 


LECT.  VI.]  THE   HALF-WAY   COVENANT.  199 

manifested  is  to  make  the  conditions  of  enjoying  full 
communion  a  matter  of  religious  formalism  and  com- 
pliance with  custom,  rather  than  of  inner  attitude 
toward  God  and  Christ. 

The  subterfuges  resorted  to  in  argument  by  those 
who  favored  the  Half-way  Covenant,  in  order  that  they 
might  satisfy  themselves  and  others  of  their  substantial 
accord  with  the  New  Testament  and  with  their  fathers 
in  regard  to  this  doctrine,  are  really  distressing.  But 
scarcely  any  open  avowals  of  contradiction  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  a  regenerate  membership  for  the  material  of  a 
particular  visible  church  are  found  until  the  close  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  In  Hartford,  in  1696,  we 
find  Mr.  Woodbridge  gathering  a  church  without  refer- 
ence to  the  scriptural  and  truly  Congregational  requisi- 
tion. Not  credible  evidence  of  a  true  Christian  life, 
but  "  owning  the  covenant,''^  is  made  the  basis  of  its 
membership.  The  principle  was  verbally  denied,  for 
almost  the  first  time  in  New  England,  in-a  sermon  pub- 
lished by  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard  of  Northampton  in 
1707.  This  sermon  maintains  that  "  sanctification  is 
not  a  necessary  qualification  to  partaking  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,"  and  that  "•  the  Lord's  Supper  is  a  converting 
ordinance."  And  so  far  do  the  churches  swing  away 
from  their  ancient  allegiance,  that  in  1750  the  grandson 
of  Mr.  Stoddard,  no  other  than  Jonathan  Edwards,  was 
by  a  Congregational  council  removed  from  his  pastor- 
ate in  Northampton,  because  he  opposed  the  admission 
of  the  unconverted  to  the  communion  of  the  Lord's 
Supper. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  conceptions  held  by 
many  of  the  founders  of  New-England  Congregation- 
alism concerning  the  nature  of  genuine  Christian  expe- 
rience were  meagre  and  formal :   the  tests  which  they 


200  PRESrCIPLES   OF   CHXJECH   POLITY.         [lect.  vi. 

applied  in  searching  and  proving  this  experience  were 
sometimes  unbearably  severe.  But  there  is  just  as 
little  doubt,  that,  in  their  return  to  the  New-Testa- 
ment way  of  constituting  Christian  churches,  they 
found  and  used  the  only  true  principle  from  which  to 
derive  the  requisites  of  membership  in  a  particular  visi- 
ble church.  These  requisites  are  the  credible  evidences 
of  true  penitence  and  faith  in  Christ,  and  of  a  disposi- 
tion to  obey  Christ  as  the  absolute  king.  These  requi- 
sites are  all  found  in  a  certain  attitude  of  heart  and 
life  toward  the  divine  Redeemer.  And,  notwithstand- 
ing the  early  departures  from  this  principle  by  our 
church  order  in  its  practical  workings,  the  principle  is 
to  be  reckoned  originally  distinctive  of,  and  perma- 
nently obligatory  upon,  that  order.  It  is  now  in  its 
negative  form  —  when  regarded,  that  is,  as  barring 
out  of  the  visible  church  all  obviously  impenitent  and 
unbelieving  persons  —  quite  universally  accepted  by 
Congregational  churches. 

But  we  cannot  forget  that  this  principle  has  another 
aspect,  and  places  the  churches  under  another  line  of 
obligations.  The  principle  provides  that  persons  who 
do  give  credible  evidence  of  genuine  repentance  and 
faith  toward  Christ  shall  be  acknowledged  as  such,  and 
admitted  to  the  communion  of  saints.  It  forbids  the 
church  to  receive  to  membership  any  but  the  appar- 
ently regenerate :  it  also  forbids  the  church  to  exclude 
the  apparently  regenerate  from  its  membership.  It  for- 
bids, then,  the  use  of  all  formulated  declarations  of 
faith  as  harriers  to  entrance  into  the  particular  visible 
church. 

I  wish  distinctly  to  place  the  entire  discussion  upon 
the  basis  of  principle.  The  question  of  the  requisites 
for  church-membership  can  never  be  wisely  and  safely 


LECT.  VI.]         CREEDS   AND   THE   LOCAL   CHTJECH.  201 

discussed  as  a  matter  of  natural  or  social  rights,  or  as 
a  mere  question  of  expediency.  To  argue  that  a 
church  may  make  its  own  conditions  of  membership, 
upon  the  general  principle  that  any  body  of  men  have 
the  natural  or  social  right,  within  the  limits  of  the  civil 
law,  to  associate  themselves  according  to  terms  of  asso- 
ciation agreed  upon  among  themselves,  is  to  misunder- 
stand and  degrade  this  entire  question.'  No  Christian 
church  has  any  authority  to  constitute  the  terms  of  its 
own  membership  as  a  mere  matter  of  natural  or  social 
right.  Jesus  Christ  has  constituted  the  terms  of  mem- 
bership in  churches  called  by  his  name :  he  has  done 
this  in  the  primal  institution  of  his  holy  catholic 
church.  He  has  confirmed  the  law  of  this  constitution 
hj  the  practice  of  the  apostolic  churches.  I  must 
confess  that  it  seems  to  me  little  better  than  a  mild 
form  of  constructive  treason  to  attempt  changes  in  this 
constitution  which  the  Lord  has  given  to  his  Church. 
The  methods  by  which  the  particular  visible  church 
arrives  at  judgment  upon  the  credible  proofs  of  true 
discipleship  may  indeed  be  adapted  to  the  exigencies 
of  the  cases  involved :  the  judgment  of  the  church  as 
to  what  constitute  themselves  credible  proofs  may  in- 
deed greatly  change.  But  to  maintain  that  a  particu- 
lar visible  church  may  make  requisitions  upon  men 
who  would  come  into  its  communion,  which  are  not 
involved  in  the  New-Testament  requisitions,  is  a  heresy 
under  the  formal  principle  of  the  true  church  polity. 

The  place  of  assent  to  creeds  in  the  general  requisi- 
tions for  church-membership  may  now  be  made  clearly 
apparent.  They  have  no  place  here,  exce]3t  that  of  as- 
sistance in  making  manifest  the  proofs  of  true  disciple- 

1  See,  for  aa  example  of  this  erroneous  view,  Upham,  Ratio  Disci- 
plinsB,  p.  57. 


202  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  vi. 

ship.  A  certain  quantum  of  the  intellectual  element  is, 
to  our  judgment,  always  involved  in  true  discipleship. 
A  man  cannot  be  admitted  to  membership  in  a  Christian 
church  who  does  not  believe  in  a  personal  God  and  in 
the  immortality  of  the  soul.  He  cannot  properly  appear 
as  a  disciple  of  Christ  when  there  is  no  reality,  according 
to  the  New-Testament  idea  of  discipleship,  to  which  the 
appearance  may  correspond.  There  may  be,  moreover, 
such  an  obvious  schism  between  the  riffht  attitude  of 
heart  and  life  toward  Christ  as  the  divine  Redeemer, 
and  certain  intellectual  views  or  dogmas  concerning  the 
nature  of  Christ,  as  will  prevent  the  judgment  of  the 
church  from  finding  credible  proofs  of  its  just  requisi- 
tions in  those  holding  these  views.  In  every  age  and 
place,  and  individual  case,  the  particular  visible  church 
of  Christ  is  bound  by  his  law  to  receive  to  its  member- 
ship such  applicants,  as  in  the  best  use  of  its  judgment, 
by  its  appointed  means,  it  may  determine  that  Christ 
has  already  received.  It  may  make  use  of  formulated 
statements  of  faith  in  this  relation  as  an  assistance  to 
right  judgment,  but  no  farther.  It  may  never  use  such 
statements  as  means  for  reversing  or  defeating  the  prin- 
ciple. In  brief,  a  Congregational  church  cannot,  with- 
out denial  of  one  of  the  most  important  principles  of 
our  church  order,  make  the  acceptance  of  a  creed  a 
primal  and  indispensable  requisite  of  membership.  How- 
ever useful  its  creed  may  be  in  testing,  it  cannot  be 
made  its  test. 

That  the  more  trustworthy  writers,  and  almost  all 
the  ancient  churches,  held  this  view  of  the  application 
of  the  principle  of  a  regenerate  membership,  there  is 
abundant  evidence.^  To  a  small  part  of  this  evidence 
let  us  now  attend. 

1  See  Congregational  Dictionary,  pp.  131  -  39,  for  evidence  additional 


LECT.  VI.]     COVENANTS    OF   THE   E^RLY   CHURCHES.       203 

The  prominence  given  to  the  profession  of  a  Christian 
experience,  and  to  the  act  of  entering  into  covenant  with 
the  Church,  clearly  indicates  on  what,  as  a  requisite  for 
membersliip,  our  earliest  writers  and  churches  were  in- 
clined to  insist.  That  congregation  of  true  believers, 
who,  under  the  leadership  of  John  Robinson,  furnished 
their  "type  and  character"  to  the  Congregational 
churches  of  New  England,  entered  into  church  union  in 
Scrooby,  Eng.,  in  the  year  1602. •  Their  covenant  was 
"into  a  church  estate,  in  the  fellowship  of  the  gospel, 
to  walk  in  all  the  ways  of  the  Lord  made  known,  or  to 
be  made  known,  unto  them,  according  to  their  best  en- 
deavors, whatever  it  should  cost  them."^  Transplanted 
to  the  soil  of  Massachusetts,  and  holding  together  by 
the  roots  of  this  covenant,  this  community  of  believers 
became  the  first  church  residing  in  New  England.  The 
first  church  organized  in  New  England,  viz.,  the  First 
Church  in  Salem,  was  instituted  after  the  model  of  the 
church  in  Plymouth.  The  commission  given  to  Francis 
Higginson,  "  to  draw  up  a  confession  of  faith  and  cove- 
nant in  Scripture  language,"  resulted  in  the  production 
of  a  document,  usually  called  simply  a  Covenant,  which 
is  in  no  respect  a  creed,  or  articulated  statement  of  doc- 
trine. It  is  a  credo,  or  simple  confession  of  heart-faith 
in  God  and  Christ,  blended  with  promises  to  serve  him, 
and  walk  in  Christian  unity  with  the  brethren.  "  We 
avouch  the  Lord  to  be  our  God,  and  ourselves  to  be  his 
people  in  the  truth  and  simplicity  of  our  spirits,"  is  the 

to  that  here  produced.  The  ancient  practice  and  authority  ujion  this 
point  are  more  conclusive  than  upon  almost  any  other  in  our  church 
order. 

1  See  Historical  Sketch  of  Congregational  Churches  in  Massachusetts, 
p.  3,  note;  Bacon's  Genesis  of  New-England  Churches,  p.  199  ;  Morton's 
New-England  Memorial,  p.  9. 

2  Bradford's  History  of  Plymouth  Plantation,  p.  9. 


204  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUUCH   POLITY.         [lect.  vi. 

most  explicit  statement  of  doctrine  contained  in  it.^  Of 
even  this  most  simple  confession  of  faith  and  covenant, 
Morton  declares,  in  his  "  New-England  Memorial "  (p. 
145,  f.),  that  it  "  was  acknowledged  only  as  a  direction, 
pointing  unto  that  faith.and  covenant  contained  in  the 
Holy  Scripture."  And  Dr.  Bentley  truly  says,  "  It  may 
be  esteemed,  if  not  for  its  theology,  for  its  simplicity. 
If  it  speak  not  the  language  of  a  sect,  it  breathes  the 
spirit  of  Christian  union.  It  never  could  be  intended 
so  much  to  display  opinions,  as,  by  written  obligation,  to 
fasten  men  together."  In  accordance  with  the  intent  of 
this  early  covenant  of  the  church  at  Salem  was  the  prac- 
tice of  the  same  church.  Its  records  tell  us,  concerning 
the  admission  of  eight  members  (March  9,  1678),  that 
"no  exception  coming  against  them,  they  making  their 
profession  of  faith  and  repentance  in  their  own  way, 
—  some  by  speech,  others  by  writing,  which  was  read 
for  tliem,  —  they  were  admitted  to  membership  in  this 
church,  by  consent  of  the  brethren,  they  engaging  them- 
selves in  the  covenant."  ^  "  Which  diversity  was," 
according  to  the  just  encomium  of  Cotton  Mather, 
"  perhaps  more  beautiful  than  would  have  been  a  more 
punctilious  uniformity."  This  practice  is,  indeed,  in 
punctilious  uniformity  with  that  which  Prince,  on  the 
authority  of  Gov.  Winslow,  ascribes  to  both  Pastor  Rob- 
inson and  Elder  Brewster,  who  were  wont  to  show  such 
as,  upon  joining  them  in  church  covenant,  inclined  to  go 
further  than  seemed  necessary  to  these  leaders  in  a  state- 

1  It  has  been  disputed  at  great  length  whether  the  church  in  Salem 
had  not  originally  also  a  more  technical  confession  of  faith.  But  the 
evidence  decides  the  dispute  with  an  unwavering  negative.  See  espe- 
cially the  whole  of  New-England  Congregationalism  in  its  Origin  and 
Purity,  illustrated  by  the  Foundation  and  Early  Kecords  of  the  First 
Church  in  Salem.    By  Hon.  D.  A.  White. 

2  See  New-England  Congregationalism,  etc.,  p.  83. 


LECT.  VI.]     COVENANTS   OF   THE   EARLY   CHUECHES.       205 

ment  of  belief,  that  it  was  required  of  them  "  only  to 
hold  forth  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  holiness  in  the  fear  of 
God,  and  submission  to  every  divine  appointment."^ 
According  to  the  historian  of  Charlestown,^  the  cove- 
nant of  the  church  organized  there  in  1632  "was  copied 
almost  word  for  word  "  from  that  of  the  church  organized 
in  1630,  and  transferred  in  the  same  year  to  Boston.  In 
this  case,  both  the  First  Church  in  Boston  and  the  First 
Church  in  Charlestown  did  not  depart  from  the  exam- 
ple of  the  churches  in  Plymouth  and  in  Salem.  The 
covenant  proposed  by  those  churches  "  to  particular  per- 
sons for  their  consent  when  they  are  to  be  admitted  "  to 
the  church,  simply  avouches  belief  in  "  the  only  true 
God  to  be  your  God,  according  to  the  tenor  of  the  cove- 
nant of  his  grace,"  and  promises  to  walk  in  all  ways 
"according  to  the  rule  of  the  gospel."  'In  the  practice 
of  the  First  Church  in  Boston,  however,  we  find  that 
provision  was  made  for  admitting  those  who  "  scrupled 
the  practice  of  making  a  relation  as  usual  at  admissions," 
in  case  "  they  do  make  a  public  profession  of  their  faith 
or  belief."  This  public  profession  of  belief,  however, 
was  not  assent  to  a  stipulated  creed,  required  as  a  con- 
dition of  membership,  but  only  a  form  which  might  be 
chosen  by  the  candidate  for  making  manifest  to  the 
church  his  evidence  of  true  discipleship.  There  is  little 
doubt  that  the  conception  and  custom  regarding  the 
requisites  for  church-membership,  which  prevailed  in 
the  above  four  churches,  were  common  to  all  the  earliest 
Congregational  churches  in  New  England.  To  borrow 
the  language  of  Davenport,  "  The  formal  cause  of  a  par- 
ticular visible  church  was  its  covenant."  The  enteringf 
into  the  covenant  required  credible  evidence  of  genuine 

1  New-England  Chronology,  p.  175. 

2  Richard  Frothingham,  jun.:  see  History  of  Charlestown,  pp.  67, 70. 


206  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.         [lect.  VJt. 

Christian  piety.  But  the  covenant,  or  confession  of 
faith,  which  was  originally  one  with  the  covenant,  was 
in  no  strict  sense  of  the  word  a  creed  or  formulated 
statement  of  doctrine :  it  was  an  avouchment  of  alle- 
giance to  God  and  to  Christ,  and  a  promise  to  walk  in 
the  way  of  this  allegiance.  "  I  do  not  remember,"  de- 
clares Palfrey,^  "  a  material  deviation  from  this  catholic 
character  in  any  of  a  considerable  number  of  early  cove- 
nants which  have  come  under  my  eye." 

Moreover,  if  we  judge  fairly  from  the  utterances  of 
the  earlier  writers,  we  must  conclude  that  they  consid- 
ered it  wroDg,  contradictory  both  of  the  principles  of 
the  New  Testament  and  of  the  avowed  principles  of 
their  church  order,  for.  a  community  of  believers  to  bar 
from  its  communion  any  one  who  gave  to  them  credible 
evidence  of  repentance  and  faith.  Not  to  make  creeds 
tests  of  membership,  or  means  of  separating  brethren, 
was  a  principle  with  them.  With  them  creeds  were 
rather  manifestoes  of  unity  with  all  true  Christians,  — 
means  of  exhibiting  the  real  unity  of  the  Church  in 
Christ. 

"  Addition  to  Christ's  terms,"  says  Baxter,^  "  is  very 
perilous,  as  well  as  diminution,  when  men  will  deny 
either  church  entrance  or  communion  to  any  that  Christ 
would  have  received,  because  they  come  not  up  to  cer- 
tain terms  which  they,  or  such  as  they,  devise."  "  No 
man  or  set  of  men,"  declares  Robert  Hall,  "  are  entitled 
to  prescribe  as  an  iudispensable  condition  of  commun- 
ion what  the  New  Testament  has  not  enjoined  as  a  con- 
dition of  salvation."  "It  is  presumptuous  to  aspire  to 
greater  purity  and  strictness  in  selecting  the  materials 
of  a  church  than  are  observed  by  its  divine  Founder." 

1  History  of  New  England,  vol.  ii.  p.  36,  note. 

2  "Works,  voL  iv.  p.  653. 


LEOT.  VI.]       ANCIENT   TERMS   OF   FELLOWSHIP.  207 

"  We  are  expressly  commanded  in  the  Scriptures,"  he 
asserts,  "  to  tolerate  in  the  Church  those  diversities  of 
opinion  which  are  not  inconsistent  with  salvation."  ^  In 
these  views  the  foregoing  writers  agree  with  Bishops 
Stillingfleet  and  Taylor,  the  "former  of  whom  asks, 
"  What  charter  hath  Christ  given  the  Church  to  bind 
men  up  to,  more  than  himself  hath  done  ?  or  to  exclude 
those  from  her  society  who  may  be  admitted  into  heav- 
en?" and  the  latter  of  whom  declares  that  "particular 
churches  are  bound  to  allow  communion  to  all  those 
that  profess  the  same  faith  upon  Avhich  the  apostles  did 
give  communion."  The  Congregational  doctrine,  how- 
ever, rightly  insists  that  the  local  church  shall  have 
credible  evidence  of  the  reality  of  the  profession  made 
by  those  seeking  its  communion.  Having  given  such 
evidence,  the  applicant  for  membership  in  the  particu- 
lar visible  church  is  to  be  invited  to  its  fellowship  on 
the  basis  of  a  mutual  covenant.  Of  this  basis  of  visible 
fellowship  Thomas  Goodwin  says,^  "  The  church  cove- 
nant is  no  more  with  us  than  this,  —  an  agreement  and 
resolution  professed,  with  promise  to  walk  in  all  those 
ways  pertaining  to  this  fellowship,  so  far  as  they  shall 
be  revealed  to  them  in  the  gospel."  He  further  declares 
that  their  intention  is  to  apply  themselves  to  men's  con- 
sciences "  thus  briefly  and  indefinitely  and  implicitly," 
and  not  to  obtrude  upon  men  "  the  mention  of  any  one 
particular  before  or  in  admission."  The  "  Apologetical 
Narration  "  asserts  that  the"  rules  for  admission  to  the 
churches  of  the  Independents  were  such  "  as  would 
take  in  any  member  of  Christ.  We  took  no  measure 
of  any  man's  holiness  by  his  opinions,  whether  con- 
curring with  us,  or  adverse  from  us."    "  We  will  never 

1  On  Terms  of  Communion,  Preface,  and  beginning  of  sect.  ii. 

2  Letters  to  John  Goodwin,  p.  44. 


208  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  vi. 

deny  the  communion,"  says  John  Owen,  "  to  any  per- 
son whose  duty  it  is  to  desire  it."  And  Dr.  Watts,  in 
his  "  Terms  of  Christian  Communion,"  shows,  as  it  is 
dechired  in  the  so-called  Congregational  Dictionary,^ 
"  that  the  churches  may  not  appoint  new  rules  of  ad- 
mission ;  as  a  general  rule  should  admit  all  who  make 
a  credible  profession  of  religion  .  .  .  take  heed  not 
to  make  the  door  of  admission  larger  or  straiter  than 
Christ  made  it ;  and  that  nothing  be  in  their  covenant 
but  what  is  essential  to  our  common  Christia?iity." 

Both  applications  of  the  one  principle  of  a  regenerate 
membership  are  made  with  equal  clearness  by  John 
Cotton,  in  his  treatise  on  the  "  Holinesse  of  Church- 
Members."  "  We  receive  none  as  members  into  the 
Church,"  says  this  author,  "  but  such  (as  according  to 
the  judgement  of  charitable  Christians)  may  be  con- 
ceived to  be  received  of  God,  into  Fellowship  with 
Christ,  the  head  of  the  Church."  ^  But  on  the  other 
hand  he  accuses  of  credulity  the  objector  to  the  way  of 
New-England  Congregationalism  whose  opinions  he  is 
controverting,  "if  he  beleeve  every  such  fabulous  report, 
That  we  exclude  any  from  our  Churches  whom  we  grant 
to  be  truly  gracious  and  elect,"  and  affirms  that  he 
does  not  know  "that  ever  we  refused  any  approved 
godly  person  upon  point  of  difference  in  judgment  about 
church  government."  "Nor  do  w^e  pinch  upon  any 
godly  man's  conscience  in  point  of  Covenant,  in  case 
he  be  willing  to  professe  his  subjection  to  Christ  in 
his  Church  according  to  the  order  of  the  Gospel."  ^  In 
another  place,  in  the  same  work.  Cotton  says,  "  Neither 
doe  we  require  any  more,  than  that  men  confesse  their 
sin,  and  professe  their  repentance,  and  new  obedience, 

1  See  p.  133,  f,  2  ibid.,  p.  39.  8  Ibid.,  p.  60. 


LECT.  VI.]       ANCIENT   TEEMS   OF  FELLOWSBXP.  209 

and  bring  forth  such  fruits,  as  doe  not  prevaricate,  and 
deny  such  a  profession."  ^ 

That  Davenport  held  essentially  the  same  view  as 
that  of  Cotton,  his  writings  abundantly  show.  His 
opposition  to  the  sophisms  which  underlay  the  Half- 
way Covenant  is  well  known.  Davenport  held  that 
the  baptized  children  of  members  in  full  communion 
became  non-members,  if  they  did  not  themselves  "  take 
hold  of  the  covenant  with  the  church."  ^  But  it  was 
by  no  means  assent  to  a  creed  which  could  rightfully 
constitute  the  test  of  fitness  for  full  communion.  He 
asserts  that  "the  Baptism,  and  profession  of  the  doc- 
trine of  Faith,  with  freedom  from  public  scandal,  do 
not  formally  constitute  a  church,  nor  make  one  a  visi- 
ble member  of  the  church."  Only  those  persons  should 
be  admitted  to  membership  in  the  church  who  make 
"  such  a  publick  profession  of  their  Faith  as  the  Church 
may,  in  charitable  discretion,  conceive,  hath  blessedness 
annexed  to  it."  ^  The  distinction  between  "  profession 
of  the  doctrine  of  Faith  "  and  "  profession  of  faith  "  as 
a  ground  of  a  real  covenant  with  the  church,  is  here 
plainly  drawn.  Indeed,  Davenport  expressly  declares,* 
"  Though  some  are  at  present  weak  in  Faith,  yet,  if  we 
may  conceive  that  the  Lord  hath  received  them,  the 
church  must  receive  them." 

This  provision  for  receiving  those  weak  in  faith  on  a 
common  basis  of  the  heart's  trust  and  love,  as  expressed 
in  a  mutual  covenant,  rather  than  bar  them  out  by 
impossibility  of  a  common  creed,  is  also  made  by  the 
Cambridge  Platform,  which  affirms,  in  language  that 
has  the  real  flavor  of  the  words  of  Jesus,  "  The  weakest 

1  Congregational  Dictionary,  p.  90. 

2  Power  of  Congregational  Churches,  pp.  22,  28,  42.  -^ 
8  Ibid.,  p.  10.  4  Ibid.,  p.  12. 


210  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  vi. 

measure  of  faith  is  to  be  accepted  in  those  that  desire 
to  be  admitted  into  the  church ; "  "  Such  charity  and 
tenderness  is  to  be  used  as  the  Aveakest  Christian,  if  sin- 
cere, may  not  be  excluded  nor  discouraged."  ^ 

It  is,  then,  we  conclude,  genuine  New-Testament  and 
ancient  Congregational  doctrine  to  make  the  terms  of 
admission  to  the  particular  visible  church  only  this, — 
that  the  Church  shall  have  reasonable  satisfaction  of 
repentance,  faith,  and  loyalty  toward  Christ ;  and  in 
its  demand  for  satisfaction,  the  Church  is  to  be  so  char- 
itable and  tender  as  to  run  the  least  possible  risk  of 
excluding  any  who  belong  to  Christ.  "  We  had  rather," 
says  Cotton,^  "ninety-nine  hypocrites  should  perish 
through  presumption  than  one  humble  soule  belonging 
to  Christ  should  sinke  under  discouragement  by  de- 
spaire." 

Nor  let  us  forget  that  the  primal  requisition  upon 
the  Church  to  make  its  own  requisitions  correspond 
with  those  of  Christ  and  the  apostles  is  a  matter  of 
unchanging  principle.  We  do  not,  then,  aver  too  much 
when  we  afhrm  with  Dr.  Leavitt,^  "  The  rule  of  church- 
fellowship  which  Congregationalism  ii:pposes  requires 
the  acknowledgment  of  all  as  Christians  who  give  cred- 
ible evidence  of  piety."  *     We  must  confess  our  hearty 

1  Chap.  xii.  sect.  3. 

2  Holiness  of  Church-Members,  p.  90. 

8  Chi'istian  Spectator,  1831,  p.  379.  For  a  similar  affirmation  see  an 
article  of  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  in  the  New-Englander  for  185G,  p.  314. 

*  It  is  very  discouraging  to  find  Dr.  Dexter,  after  having  most  elabo- 
rately and  ably  defended  the  truly  scriptural  and  ancient  Congrega- 
tional doctrine  of  the  nature  of  a  Christian  church,  maintaining  the 
position  that  only  those  can  rightly  belong  to  any  given  church,  who 
"  hold  for  substance  the  faith  as  the  church  holds  it "  (Congregationalism, 
p.  194).  When  the  church  finds  a  member,  against  whose  moral  charac- 
ter no  charge  can  be  made,  and  of  whose  true  Christian  discipleship 
his  most  intimate  acquaintances  are  persuaded,  holding  views  "  destruc- 
tive of  its  creed,"  the  ciixumstances  are  indeed,  as  this  author  asserts, 


LECT.  VI.]    UNCHANGING  NATURE  OF  THE  PEESTCIPLE.    211 

appreciation  of  the  pungent  and  just  sarcasm  employed 
by  a  Presbyterian  paper,  "  The  Interior "  of  Chicago, 
when  it  called  upon  Congregationalists  to  imitate  the 
church  order  which  that  paper  advocates,  by  taking 
their  lions  away  from  the  church-door,  and  placing  them 
at  the  foot  of  the  pulpit-stairs. 

The  view  that  leads  us  to  derive  the  requisites  of 
church-membershij)  from  the  principle  which  determines 
the  very  nature  of  this  membershijD,  also  prevents  us 
from  supposing  that  upon  this  point  the  custom  of  our 
churches  may  ever  fitly  be  changed.  The  formal  prin- 
ciple of  the  true  church  polity  binds  it  always  to  hold 
by  its  primal  and  essential  ideas  as  to  the  institution, 
discipline,  and  worship  of  Christian  churches.  One 
essential  idea  of  the  Christian  Church  is  seen  to  be 
this,  that  its  members  shall  be  such  as  can  give  proof 
to  one  another  of  being  true  members  of  the  body  of 
Christ.  The  principle  of  a  regenerate  membership  is 
therefore  to  be  regarded  as  an  indestructible  basis  for 
constituting  all  Christian  churches  everywhere  and  in 
all  times.  But  this  principle  both  requires  us  to  refuse 
to  walk  in  a  church  way  with  such  as  are  manifestly 
not  members  of  the  body  of  Christ,  and  it  also  requires 
us  not  to  refuse  thus  to  walk  with  those  who  may  in 
charity  be  considered  as  giving  proof  that  they  are 
members  of  his  body.  The  application  of  this  princi- 
ple a  church  has  no  right  to  shrink  from,  or  refuse  to 
endeavor  to  make.  The  particular  formal  way  in  which 
it  makes  the  application  it  is  at  liberty  to  change. 

"  peculiarly  trying."  But  the  question  lies  back  of  these  circumstances. 
Has  the  church  a  right  to  make  assent  to  a  creed  a  test  of  member- 
ship ?  Later  on  in  his  work  {p.  208)  we  find  the  author,  however,  assert- 
ing that  "  due  facilities  for  entering  upon  church  relations  should  be 
everywhere  within  reach  of  the  redeemed."  Should  not,  then,  Congre- 
gationalism afford  such  facilities  ?  Is  it  not  fitted  to  be  the  sole  church 
in  a  community? 


212  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  vi. 

As  to  what  are  credible  proofs  of  true  discipleship, 
individuals  and  churclies  may  learn  by  experience  :  they 
may  even  expand  and  correct  their  views  of  the  na- 
ture of  Christian  faith.  This  necessary  modification 
of  views  as  to  the  different  manifestations  of  the  one 
life  in  Christ  has  properly  enough  introduced  modifi- 
cations of  the  customs  of  the  churches  in  receiving 
their  members.  The  prevalent  views  of  what  I  may 
call  the  praxis  of  the  Spirit  in  regeneration  have  largely 
changed.  We  still  believe  that  each  new  birth  is  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  no  man  should  be  received 
into  the  Church  of  Christ,  except  upon  the  supposition 
that  he  is  born  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Our  knowledge 
of  the  divine  methods  of  bringing  souls  to  this  birth 
is,  we  may  hope,  clearer,  and  more  conformed  to  the 
phenomena  of  apostolic  times,  than  was  that  of  our 
fathers.  Credible  evidence  may,  then,  be  another  thing 
with  us  from  that  which  they  required. 

The  phenomena  of  the  religious  life  as  to  its  thoughts, 
emotions,  and  purposes,  assume  different  types  in  dif- 
ferent ages  of  the  Church.  The  distinctions  of  these 
types  are  caused  by  many  and  constantly  varying  influ- 
ences. The  ideas  which  prevail  iu  religious  instruction 
regarding  the  nature  of  God  and  the  person  of  Christ 
will  have  much  to  do  with  determining  the  way  in 
which  human  hearts  will  give  themselves  to  God  and 
Christ.  Vast  historic  forces  in  government,  literature, 
theology,  and  social  life,  will  also  have  much  to  do  in 
shaping  these  ideas.  He  who  lives  under  a  civil  control 
which  he  abhors,  and  regards  as  usurping  an  unjust 
exercise  of  authority,  will  turn  to  God  as  King,  if  he 
turn  at  all,  will  rebel  consciously  and  stoutly  against 
God  as  his  king,  if  he  do  not  turn  at  all.  He  who  in 
the  midst  of  universal  restlessness  of  heart  hears  the 


LECT.  VI.]  CHANGES   IN   TESTS   OF   PIETY.  213 

voice  of  Jesus  say,  Come,  and  I  will  give  you  rest, 
will  necessarily  regard  liis  Saviour  somewhat  differently 
from  him  who  has  carried  Christ's  cause  before  perse- 
cuting kings  on  the  point  of  his  bayonet  or  the  edge 
of  his  sword. 

We  are  inclined  either  to  complain  of  the  ancients  or 
of  ourselves,  when  we  consider  what  proofs  of  repent- 
ance and  faith  they  found  necessary  to  satisfy  rational 
charity  that  the  things  existed  indeed.  And  doubtless 
there  are  grounds  of  complaint  against  both  them  and 
us.  But  such  grounds  do  not  lie  in  the  mere  fact  that 
different  proofs  satisfy  the  same  rational  charity  at  dif- 
ferent eras  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  Our  fathers  had 
a  strong,  clear  type  of  regeneration  before  their  minds, 
and  they  sought  for  it  in  the  experience  of  every  one 
professing  faith.  They  found  what  they  sought.  The 
type  which  they  instituted  and  cultivated  actually  pre- 
vailed. The  actual  praxis  of  the  Spirit  was  according 
to  the  logic  of  the  sermons,  narratives,  and  confessions 
of  experience,  prevalent  in  that  day.  But  all  expe- 
riences would  not  conform  to  the  same  rule,  all  views 
of  doctrine  would  not  fit  in  the  same  creed,  practice 
could  not  be  both  successful  and  uniform,  with  them 
in  their  day  as  truly  as  with  us  now.  We  should 
remember  all  this  when  we  see  them  providing  for  dif- 
ferences between  individuals,  and  allowing  each  to  state 
liis  belief  and  experience,  either  by  proxy  or  in  person, 
in  his  own  way.  And  gradually  the  formality  and 
hypocrisy  fostered  by  the  custom  of  "  Relations  "  led  to 
their  disuse.  While,  then,  the  general  sincerity  of  these 
earlier  professions  of  repentance  and  faith,  so  stereo- 
typed and  formal  as  they  usually  appear,  need  not  be 
questioned  by  us,  the  charity  with  which  they  received 
even  the  weakest  measure  of  what  seemed  to  them  genu- 


214  PRINCIPLES   OF    CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  vi. 

ine  faith  should  be  hiiitated  b}^  us.  Nor  can  we  forget 
that  their  severer  means  of  discovering  and  measuring 
faith  did  not  secure  them  against  the  self-deceived  and 
hypocritical.  There' was  in  their  methods  great  temp- 
tation to  profess  experience,  and  confess  doctrine  in  the 
stereotyped  way,  even  when  the  reality  of  experience 
did  not  justify  the  profession,  and  the  intelligent  con- 
victions of  truth  did  not  underlie  its  confession.  There 
was  undoubtedly  great  temptation  to  name  the  minister 
as  the  means  of  grace  to  the  convert's  soul,  and  that 
through  some  particular  favorite  sermon  of  his ;  for  the 
minister  was  expecting  to  hear  himself  thus  named,  and 
the  escape  by  naming  him  was  more  easy  from  the  or- 
deal of  the  public  narrative.^ 

1  Very  interesting  information  regarding  these  so-called  "  Rela- 
tions," or  "  Declarations  of  Christian  Experience  "  may  be  found  in  an 
article  (Ai^pendix)  hy  Re\'.  Samuel  Sewall,  contained  in  the  American 
Quarterly  Register,  vol.  xii.  According  to  Mather  they  were  reported 
to  have  taken  their  rise  in  1634,  not  from  regard  to  any  assumed  divine 
precept  upon  the  matter,  but  from  an  account  of  the  advantage  of  hear- 
ing such  "Relations  "  given  by  a  brother  who  had  been  admitted  to  an 
examination  by  the  elders.  In  1651  the  custom  had  become  so  prevalent, 
that  Johnson  intimates  it  to  be  the  common  mode  in  all  the  churches 
of  New  England.  According  to  Mr.  Sewall's  statement,  the  ' '  Relations  " 
of  the  men  were  at  first  generally  oral,  those  of  the  women  written  and 
read.  It  afterward  became  customary,  at  least  in  some  churches,  to 
commit  them  all  to  -yriting,  and  to  read  them  at  the  admission  of  their 
authors  to  the  church.  In  the  records  of  the  First  Church  of  Charles- 
town,  March  8,  1684-85  it  is  written,  ''  Voted  and  concurred  in  by  y« 
Chh.  y'  mens  relations  (their  oivn  ivononncing  them  having  been  con- 
stantly found  inconvenient)  be  for  y^  future  read:  Nem.  con."  The  cus- 
tom, without  doubt,  in  many  instances  degenerated  into  a  mere  formal- 
ity. The  English  and  Indian  church  at  Natick  voted  Jan.  16,  1730  as  fol- 
lows: "  Altho'  w-e  do  not  disajiprove  of  persons  making  Relations  when 
they  are  to  be  admitted  to  Communion ;  yet  we  esteem  that  this  ought 
not  to  be  a  Term  or  Condition  of  Communion,  so  that  none  shall  be 
received  without  it."  "  There  are  now  "  (1840),  writes  Mr.  Sewall,  "  on 
the  church  files  (that  is  of  the  Second  Clmrch  of  "Woburn)  several  scores 
of  these  Relations  by  members  received  into  communion  between  1750 
and  1775.  But  only  about  one-fifth  part  of  the  whole  appear  to  be  origi- 
ual,  and  in  the  handwriting  of  them  who  offered  them.  The  remainder 


LECT.  VI.]  CHANGES   IN   TESTS    OF   PIETY.  215 

And,  further,  modern  customs  are  not  to  be  con- 
demned as  uncongregational,  because  they  differ  from 
the  ancient  in  the  way  appointed  by  the  church  for 
acquiring  its  requisite  evidence  of  repentance  and  faith. 
In  reality,  hoAvever,  these  modern  methods  of  examining 
candidates  for  membership  are  not  so  essentially  differ- 
ent as  is  sometimes  supposed.  The  show  of  a  public 
questioning,  or  a  reading  of  the  written  confession  be- 
fore the  church,  did  not  prevent  the  officers  of  the 
church  from  virtually  administering  nearly  the  whole 
of  this  trust.  The  number  who,  "  through  excessive 
fear,  or  other  infirmity,"  were  "  unable  to  make  their 
personal  relation  of  their  spiritual  estate  in  public," 
and  who  resorted  to  the  provision  that  "the  elders, 
having  received  private  satisfaction,  make  relation 
thereof  in  public  before  the  church,"  ^  might  easily  be 
expected  largely  to  increase.  The  number  for  whom 
this  is  far  the  better  way  will  doubtless  alwa3*s  continue 
relatively  very  large.  Nor  can  I  believe  that  we  have 
made  any  improvement  uj)on  the  ancient  custom,  when 
we  commit  this  trust  of  examining  candidates  for  mem- 
bership to  a  delegation  from  the  brethren,  whom  we 
somewhat  inanely  call  a  "  committee,"  rather  than  to 
those  constituted  and  ordained  officers  to  whom  the 
New  Testament  and  our  fathers  so  largely  committed 
the  same  trust.  But,  as  you  will  again  have  occasion 
to  discover,  1  am  one  of  those  doomed  by  my  theory 
and  convictions  to  take  up  a  lament  for  the  decay  of 
the  order  of  elders  in  our  Congregational  churches. 

The  principle  of  continually  constituting  anew  and 

were   evidently  composed  and  written   by  one   and  the  same  person, 
though  subscribed  in  some  instances  by  the  candidates  themselves.   And 
all  these  run  in  much  tlie  same  strain;  and  some  of  them  contain  whole 
Bentences  expressed  in  jirecisely  or  nearly  the  same  words." 
1  Cambridge  Platform,  chap.  xii.  sect.  4. 


216  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  vi. 

replenishing  the  Church  by  the  addition  to  it  of  all 
whom  the  Holy  Spirit  leads  to  repent  of  sin,  and  to 
believe  unto  salvation  from  sinning  in  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  is  vital  in  the  true  church  polity.  From  it  no 
Congregational  church  should  wittingly  depart.  TMs 
principle  will  do  most  to  keep  the  churches  purest  both 
in  doctrine  and  in  life ;  for  that  the  use  of  creeds  as 
tests  of  fitness,  and  as  barriers  against  the  unfit,  does 
not  keep,  and  does  not  even  tend  to  keep,  the  Church 
pure,  the  general  experience  has  made  abundantly 
clear.  And  if  the  witness  of  the  general  experience 
were  not  jet  clearly  distinguishable,  we  should  be  safe 
in  abiding  by  the  principles  upon  which  Christ  and  the 
apostles  instituted  the  Church.  Thus  much  appears 
certain  as  matter  of  pure  principle  and  undoubted 
truth. 

And  further,  I  give  it  somewhat  hesitatingly,  as  an 
opinion  based  upon  individual  observation  and  experi- 
ence, that  the  best  means  of  applying  the  principle  is  a 
faithful  board  of  ordained  elders,  to  whom  the  Church 
commits,  under  responsibility  to  itself,  the  details  neces- 
sary to  the  application. 


LECTURE   VII. 

THE  PEmCrPLES   OF   CONGEEGATIONALISM  APPLIED  TO 
THE  PURITY   OF   THE   MINISTRY. 

The  thorough  working  of  the  principle  of  a  regen- 
erate membership  furnishes  the  chief  means  for  secur- 
ing, both  in  doctrine  and  in  life,  the  purity  of  Christian 
churches.  The  purity  of  the  churches  is  itself  one  of 
the  chief  means  for  securing  the  purity  of  the  minis- 
try. It  is  a  quite  familiar  thought  that  the  teaching 
and  example  of  the  pastors  of  our  churches  influence 
largely  the  condition  in  doctrine  and  life  of  those 
churches;  but  there  is  much  less  familiarity  than 
should  be  with  the  counter-thought,  that  the  doctrme 
and  life  of  the  churches  find  their  most  fully  devel- 
oped types  in  the  ministry  of  the  same  churches. 

Few  will  maintain,  however,  that  the  principle  of  a 
regenerate  membership  would  alone  sufi&ce  to  furnish 
us  with  the  rules  and  customs  which  are  necessary  to 
secure  an  able,  sound,  and  holy  ministry.  The  prac- 
tices of  different  church  orders  with  respect  to  their 
ministry  will,  indeed,  differ  largely  in  accordance  with 
their  attitude  towards  this  principle.  Those  which  do 
not  require  from  their  laity  credible  proofs  of  repent- 
ance and  faith  toward  Christ  will  be  likely  not  to  re- 
quire these  conditions  of  fitness  even  from  the  ministry ; 
but  those  who  do  reqliire  these  conditions  from  both 

217 


218  PRmCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.        [lect.  vii. 

laity  and  ministry  will  be  sure  to  require  from  the 
latter  somewhat  more.  The  true  church  polity  has 
always  insisted  that  a  man  should  have  some  special 
natural  fitness,  some  special  preparation  by  submission 
to  training,  and  some  such  divine  call  as  shall  induce 
a  special  consecration,  in  order  to  become  a  Christian 
minister.  This  doctrine  of  the  requisites  for  its  minis- 
try has  been  derived,  in  part  from  unconscious  use  of 
its  formal  principle,  in  part  from  reasoning  —  cruder  or 
more  correct  —  on  the  basis  of  various  other  Christian 
truths,  and  in  part  from  an  abundance  of  sad  or  happy 
experiences. 

The  application  of  the  formal  principle  to  all  the 
exigencies  and  special  cases  which  arise  in  the  history 
of  the  churches  is  by  no  means  easily  to  be  made. 
The  New  Testament,  indeed,  describes  the  indispensa- 
ble qualities  to  be  required  in  the  officer  of  the  particu- 
lar visible  church.  Such  an  officer  must  be  free  from 
unchastity,  self-will,  irascibility,  intemperance,  quarrel- 
someness, and  avarice  ;  he  must  be  positively  hospitable, 
discreet,  righteous,  and  holy ;  he  must  hold  the  true 
Christian  doctrine  as  it  came  from  Christ  through  the 
apostles,  with  an  ability  to  edify  the  Church  by  such 
doctrine,  and  to  confute  gainsayers ;  he  must  be  with- 
out scandal  in  his  family,  and  in  right  attitude  toward 
his  selfhood,  his  neighbor,  and  his  God.-^  But,  as  to 
how  they  shall  secure  and  keep  for  their  ministry  this 
high  condition  of  purity  in  doctrine  and  life,  the  New 
Testament  largely  leaves  the  churches  to  devise  means 
as  the  results  of  experience  require.  The  results  of 
experience  offer  a  somewhat  conflicting  testimony  in  re- 
spect to  the  value  of  different  means.     The  inferences 

1  See  Tit.  i.  7-0,  and  compare  1  Tim.  iii.  2-13  with  the  notes  in 
Meyer's  Handbuch. 


LECT.  VII.]         THE  PURITY   OF   THE  MESriSTRY.  219 

made  by  different  theorizers  from  the  same  results  are 
quite  diverse,  and  sometimes  contradictory.  We  have 
before  us,  then,  practical  questions  of  considerable  difl&- 
culty  and  doubtfulness,  when  we  come  to  consider  the 
principles  of  the  true  church  polity  as  applied  to  the 
purity  in  the  faith  of  its  ministry.  There  are,  in  brief, 
no  means  given  to  Christians  for  keeping  all  men,  or 
even  all  of  their  own  teachers,  always  pure  in  doctrine 
and  life :  there  are  no  means  for  wholly  avoiding  defec- 
tions, scandals,  heart-burnings,  disgrace.  Impurity  in 
both  doctrine  and  life  is  found  in  all  churches  and  in 
the  ministry  of  all  church  orders.  Each  church  order 
can  only  do  the  best,  on  the  whole  possible,  to  prevent 
its  accumulation,  to  purge  it  away  when  accumulated, 
and  to  bear  its  part  of  the  common  burden  of  shame. 

The  application  of  the  above-mentioned  principles  to 
the  purity  in  the  faith  of  Congegational  ministers  must 
be  made  in  the  three  following  ways :  — 

I.  This  application  must  be  made  by  training  all  our 
ministers  to  love,  discern,  and  teach  the  whole  truth  of 
God,  and  especially  the  Word  of  God  in  redemption  as 
that  Word  is  revealed  in  the  Scriptures,  with  a  manly 
independence  of  human  authorities  and  in  humble 
reliance  upon  the  Hol}^  Spirit.  The  trained  sense  of 
primary  responsibility  to  God  alone  is  a  safeguard  of 
purity. 

II.  This  application  must  also  be  made  by  cultivat- 
ing in  all  our  pastors  a  sense  of  their  secondary  respon- 
sibility to  the  congregations  to  whom  they  teach  the 
truth  of  Christ ;  these  congregations  being  regarded  as 
able  and  obligated,  together  with  their  pastors,  to  know 
the  doctrines  of  Scripture  by  intelligent  study,  and 
through  enlightenment  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  culti- 
vation of  this  sense  of  responsibiiitj'  involves,  (1)  Right 


220  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.        [lect.  yii. 

ordination  of  the  pastor  at  the  hands  of  the  Church, 
and  (2)  Right  watch  and  care  of  the  doctrine  and  life 
of  the  pastor  by  the  Church. 

III.  This  application  must  be  made  finally  by  so 
using  the  principle  of  the  communion  of  churches  as 
to  cultivate  in  all  our  ministers  a  sense  of  tertiary  re- 
sponsibility to  all  the  churches  of  their  neighborhood 
and  to  all  churches  of  Christ.  This  use  involves,  (1) 
the  due  acknowledgment  of  the  principle  of  commun- 
ion of  churches  in  the  ordination  of  every  pastor ;  and 
(2)  the  subsequent  watch  and  care  of  the  doctrine  and 
life  of  every  minister  by  the  entire  sisterhood  of 
churches. 

The  minister,  as  a  learner  and  teacher  of  divine  truth, 
owes  primary  allegiance,  and  is  directly  responsible,  to 
God  alone.  As  himself  a  believing  spirit,  and  illumined 
by  the  divine  Spirit,  he  goes  to  all  sources  of  truth,  but 
especially  to  the  Scriptures,  to  determine  what  he  shall 
hold  for  true,  and  what,  as  true,  he  shall  teach  to  others. 
"  Communion  of  the  soul  with  God  in  his  Word  is  the 
high  school  of  theology,"  said  the  late  Dr.  J.  P.  Thomp- 
son ;  and  "the  holy  unctiun"  of  the  Congregational 
minister  is  "  from  a  well-thumbed  Bible."  '  "  Holy 
Scripture,"  said  Rev.  John  Wise,  "that  best,  though 
not  the  biggest,  of  books,  is  the  saint's  library  and  the 
clergyman's  pandects,  whence  he  takes  the  rules  for  the 
management  of  his  trust." ' 

It  follows,  then,  that  the  relation  between  the  educa- 
tion and  the  doctrinal  purity  of  the  ministry  is  very 
intimate.  Defects  in  the  education  of  Congregational 
pastors  were  one  subordinate  cause  of  the  Unitarian 
schism :  the  founding   and   influence  of  this   Andover 

1  See  article  in  New-Englander,  August,  1860,  pp.  G41  and  644,  f. 

2  The  Church's  Quarrel  Espoused,  5th  Query  of  the  Answer. 


LECT.  VII.]        EDUCATION   AND   THE   MINISTRY.  221 

Theological  Seminaiy  is  justly  spoken  of,  by  the  Com- 
mittee of  Inquiry  which  the  General  Association  of 
Massachusetts  appointed  in  1833,  as  one  of  the  chief 
means  by  which  that  schism  was  arrested.^  Whenever 
there  has  been  a  marked  decline  in  the  faith  and  fideli- 
ty of  its  ministers,  the  practice  of  Congregationalism 
has  been  to  attribute  it,  in  part,  to  faults  or  remissness 
in  their  education  :  the  practice  has  also  been  to  attempt 
the  removal  of  the  defects  by  the  cure  of  the  causes. 
A  thoroughly  educated  ministry  —  educated,  that  is, 
by  the  best  development  of  the  powers  of  intellect 
through  Christian  learning,  and  of  the  powers  of  the 
heart  through  Christian  communion  with  God  and  with 
one  another  —  has  always  seemed  to  our  church  order 
as  surest  to  be  and  to  continue  a  sound  and  unblamable 
ministry.  •'  Straggling  illiterate  teachers,  .  .  .  grossly 
unfurnished  with  ministerial  gifts  and  knowledge,"  — 
to  borrow  language  from  an  ordination  sermon  preached 
by  Dr.  Colman  in  1746,  —  have  never  been  in  favor,  have 
scarcely,  indeed,  been  fairly  treated,  amongst  New-Eng- 
land Congregationalists.  It  accords  with  our  traditions, 
and,  I  believe,  also  accords  with  the  facts  of  general 
experience,  to  hold  that  severe  and  protracted  prepara- 
tory training  tends  to  make  a  ministry  orthodox  in  doc- 
trine, and  pure  in  life.  This  training  should  have  for 
its  result,  not  only  to  furnish  the  minister  with  a  larger 
equipment  of  technical  knowledge,  but  also  to  deepen 
the  conviction  of  that  primary  and  awful  responsibility 
to  God  which  he  owes  as  a  seeker  and  teacher  of"  the 
most  important  and  influential  truths.  To  learn  Latin 
enough  to  read  a  mass,  to  cultivate  sufficient  literary 
skill  to  produce  one  or  two  sermoncttes  or  moral  essays 

1  Historical  Sketch  of  Congregational  Churches  in   Massachusetts, 
Appendix,  p.  311. 


222  PEINCIPLES   OP   CHUECH  POLITY.        [lect.  vn. 

weekly,  may  leave  a  soul  shallow  and  flippant  still ;  but 
to  grapple  by  grammar  and  lexicon  and  lecture,  in 
prayer  and  conversation  and  solitary  thought,  with  all 
those  abstruse  questions  of  criticism,  those  dark  and 
deep  problems  of  religious  philosophy,  and  those  solemn 
awe-inspiring  teachings  of  Christian  theology,  vv^hich 
exercise  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  devout  student, 
tends,  at  least,  to  make  a  sober,  discreet,  and  conscien- 
tious soul.  The  mind  which  has,  under  good  leader- 
ship, been  through  some  of  these  mazes,  will  not  so 
readily  set  itself  up  as  competent  either  to  affirm  or 
to  deny  the  current  views.  It  will  shrink  from  violat- 
ing modesty  by  giving  itself  out  as  a  discoverer  of 
some  strange  new  doctrine ;  at  the  same  time  it  will  be 
cautious  about  committing  itself  to  an  announced  and 
boasted  championship  of  all  that  is  old.  And  all  the 
while  it  will  be  likely  to  pray  much,  and  think  much, 
and  proclaim  little ;  to  walk  modestly  before  all  men, 
charitably  with  the  brethren,  and  humbly  in  the  sight 
of  God.  And,  inasmuch  as  it  believes  with  reason  that 
all  truth  is  from  God,  it  will  fearlessly  accept  all 
proven  truth,  and  hold  it  in  a  sense  of  personal  respon- 
sibilit}^  to  him. 

That  training  which  best  cultivates  this  sense  of  pri- 
mary responsibility  to  God,  and  which,  therefore,  tends 
most  to  secure  its  subjects  in  purity  of  doctrine  and  life, 
will  be  fair  and  generous  and  broad.  It  will  be  willing 
to  argue  its  case,  and  to  show  reasons  for  justifying  the 
ways  of  God  to  man.  It  will  not  expect  to  dismiss  all 
the  difficulties  of  the  laity,  or  to  close  the  mouths  of  all 
objectors,  by  the  teacher's  ijjse  dixit,  even  when  based 
upon  an  alleged  divine  ipse  dixit.  If  it  be  true  of  our 
most  successful  evangelists  that  their  success  is  due  to 
this  fact, — I   quote,  alas!  the  words   of  a  Congrega- 


LECT.  VII.]        EDUCATION   AND   THE   MINISTRY.  223 

tioiial  pastor :  "  They  believe  the  Bible,  every  book  of  it, 
every  chapter,  every  verse,  every  line,  every  word  ;  they 
never  go  back  of  it,  never  stop  to  argue  it ;  they  have 
no  philosophy  about  the  truth ;  they  attempt  no  explana- 
tions of  mysteries  ;  they  hold  no  arguments  with  unbe- 
lievers," —  still  the  educated  minister  will  know  better 
than  to  expect  success  in  evangelizing  by  imitating  the 
same  ways.  He  will  rather  despise  no  truth,  and  no 
means  of  presenting  the  truth,  which  shall  help  to  place 
men  in  that  point  of  view  where  the  beams  from  the 
one  source  of  all  light,  as  they  come  through  so-called 
reason  and  through  so-called  revelation,  may  be  seen  to 
unite.  And  how  can  he  refuse  to  answer  objections,  or 
argue  his  case,  when  the  Apostle  Paul  has  made  the 
ability  to  confute  gainsayers  an  indispensable  prerequi- 
site of  his  office  ?  Young  gentlemen,  let  me  express 
to  you  my  conviction,  that  the  use  you  make  of  your 
seminary  course  will  have  more  to  do  with  keeping 
you  sound  in  faith,  and  pure  in  life,  than  all  the  formal 
testings  to  which  you  will  subsequently  be  made  sub- 
ject by  the  appointed  ecclesiastical  means.  It  is  also 
my  conviction,  that  satisfactory  conduct  as  a  Cliristian 
student  and  a  Christian  gentleman,  in  all  the  course  of 
training  for  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  should  be  much 
more  carefully  exacted  than  it  now  is  by  all  councils 
and  associations  in  licensing  and  ordaining  ministers. 

The  Congregational  pastor,  as  the  teacher  and  leader 
of  his  congregation,  owes  a  secondary  but  most  impor- 
tant allegiance  to  his  own_church.  It  is  in  accordance 
with  the  two  fundamental  principles  of  the  true  church 
polity  to  argue  that  the  community  of  believing  souls 
is  spiritually  illumined  to  discern  the  truth  of  God's 
Word,  and  so  is  fitted  to  test  their  teacher  and  his 
teachings   by  that  Word.     One   of  the   Five   Articles 


224  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  vn. 

wliicli  the  papal  bishops  submitted  to  the  Parliament 
of  1559,  as  setting  forth  the  imperishable  essence  of  the 
Romish  faith,  was  that  no  authority  in  matters  of  faith 
and  discipline  is  to  be  conceded  to  the  laity.  The  Con- 
gregational principle  is  the  exact  reverse  of  this :  all 
authority  in  matters  of  faith  and  discipline  is,  not  sim- 
ply to  be  conceded,  but  of  right  belongs  —  under  the 
headship  of  Christ,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  illumin- 
ing of  the  Spirit,  and  in  accordance  with  the  norm  of 
faith  and  discipline  furnished  by  the  Scriptures  —  to  the 
laity.  It  is  doubtless  most  salutary  to  keep  before  the 
minds  of  the  ministry  their  dependence,  under  God, 
upon  the  community  of  believers  for  the  testing  of  their 
doctrine.  We  shall  never  have  a  satisfactory  theory  of 
inspiration  until  full  acknowledgment  is  made  of  this 
truth :  the  gifts  of  the  Spirit,  and  the  discernment  of 
those  gifts,  are  committed  to  the  community  of  believers. 
This  is  equally  true  of  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible  and 
of  all  Christian  inspiration.  The  feeling  of  dependence 
upon  the  people  for  salary,  for  applause,  for  preferment 
in  office,  is  misleading  and  unmanly.  The  feeling  of 
dependence  upon  the  people  of  Christ  for  the  discern- 
ment and  testing  of  the  truths  taught  is  for  the  teacher 
a  most  helpful  and  ennobling  experience.  Moreover, 
Christian  conofregjations  should  be  trained  to  reason 
with  and  rebuke  the  pastors  who  preach  unsound  doc- 
trine :  Christian  pastors  should  show  themselves  thor- 
oughly enough  Christian  to  heed  the  reasoning,  and 
submit  with  humility  to  the  rebuke.  The  pastor  who 
feels  himself  most  loftily  elevated  above  his  own  church 
in  knowledge  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  is  most  ill  fitted 
to  be  their  pastor.  To  what  lengths  of  unreason  and 
discourtesy  a  minister  may  be  carried  by  wholly  forget- 
ting the  essential  nature  of  his  relations  to  the  people, 


225 


l^ECT.^ai.]         RESPONSIBILITY  TO   THE   PEOPLE. 

some  of  our  own  controversial  books  and  pamphlets 
may  make  us  aware.i     The  clergy  have  always  a  certani 
tendency  to  grow  clannish,  to  see  things  in  the  light  ot 
class  relations,  and  ecclesiastical  customs  and  formulas. 
They  are  tempted  to  be  sticklers  for  minutice  of  doc- 
trine, or  else  rather  loud-mouthed  announcers  of  new 
discoveries  in  theological  science.     They  are  apt  to  run 
wholly  imaginary  lines  through  their  own  corporation, 
and  thus  crudely  classify  themselves  as  orthodox  and 
heretical,  liberal  and  bigoted,  sound  and  shaky.     Now, 
if  we  are  to  classify  Congregational  pastors  apart  from 
their  brethren  in  the  churches,  and  then  call   them, 
"the  clergy,"  we  must  hold  that  the  highest  allegiance 
under  God  of  this  class,  the  clergy,  is  to  the  other  class, 
the  laity,  in  all  Congregational  churches.     In  1730  a 
committee  of  the  New  North  Church  was  appointed  to 
examine  a  candidate  for  settlement  as  pastor,  "concern- 
ing his  Christian  principles,  both  doctrinal  and  disci- 
plinary."   A  revival  and  heightening,  by  means  of  such 
an  examination,  of  the  sense  of  responsibility  on  the 
part  of  the  pastor  to  the  church  which  he  teaches,  would 
do  much  toward  securing  purity  in  the  doctrine  and  life 
of  our  ministry.     It  is  no  unwarrantable  assumption  for 
any  congregation  to  require  of  the  candidate  for  its  pas- 
torate a  full  statement  made  to  them  of  his  doctrinal 
belief  and  religious  experience. 

Besides  his  primary  allegiance  to  Christ,  and  his  sec- 
ondary responsibility  to  his  own  church,  the  Congrega- 
tional minister  has  a  certain  tertiary  allegiance  and 
responsibility  to  the  Church  of  Christ  at  large.  This 
allegiance  is  acknowledged,  and  this  responsibility  se- 

1  As  e  -.,  a  pamplilet  printed  in  1794,  entitled  Congregationalism  as 
contained ''in  the  Scriptures,  explained  by  the  Cambri^dge  Platform, 
^v-here  the  removal  of  a  Congregational  pastor  is  likened  to  the  deposi- 
tion of  a  priest  by  a  Jewish  king. 


226  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  vii. 

cured,  in  the  case  of  the  pastor^  by  the  communion  of 
his  church  with  sister  Congregational  churches.  As  a 
pastor,  he  has  no  responsibility,  and  owes  no  allegiance 
whatever  to  his  fellow-miuisters  as  such,  but  to  them 
as  delegated  representatives  of  sister-churches.  No 
Congregational  minister,  whatever  his  position  or  title, 
can  assume  the  right  to  inspect  the  faith  of  any  pastor ; 
nor  can  any  number  of  ministers  assume  any  jurisdic- 
tion over  any  single  pastor.  But  the  ordaining  and  in- 
stalling of  pastors  of  Congregational  churches,  and,  as 
well,  the  subsequent  care  of  their  purity  in  faith  and 
life,  is  committed  to  the  sister-churches  by  the  first, 
second,  third,  and  sixth  ways  of  communion.^ 

The  second  and  third  means  for  conserving  the  purity 
of  Congregational  ministers,  viz.,  the  care  of  the  partic- 
ular visible  church  over  its  own  pastor,  and  the  care  of 
the  sisteihood  of  churches  over  their  pastors,  cover  and 
shield  two  important  epochs.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
epoch  in  which  the  minister  becomes  pastor  of  a  Con- 
gregational cliurch :  the  second  is  the  sad  and  daiiger- 
ous  epoch  when  he  becomes  notably  or  obviousl}^  impure 
in  morals,  or  unsound  in  faith.  The  local  church  and 
the  communion  of  churches  are  intimately  interested  in 
botli  tliese  epochs  :  in  the  determining  of  the  difficult 
questions  which  accompany  both  these  epochs,  the  local 
church  and  the  sister-churches  should  take  appropriate 
parts.  Only  in  this  union  of  effort  is  it  possible  to  use 
both  these  means  to  promote  the  desired  end. 

We  consider,  then,  at  some  length,  the  Congregational 
doctrine  of  the  ordination  of  the  pastor. 

When  a  Congregational  church  has  made  choice  of 
a  pastor,  it  is  in  accordance  with  the  example  of  the 
New  Testament,  and  with  the  principles  and  most  time- 

1  GaDibridge  Platform,  chap.  xv.  sect.  2. 


LECT.  VII  ]        THE   ELEMENTS    OF   ORDINATION.  227 

honored  customs  of  our  polity,  tliat  this  chosen  pastor 
should  be  formally  and  solemnly  inducted  into  his  oifice. 
It  is  agreed  by  all  that  the  primary  and  constitutive  act 
for  establishing  the  pastorate  is  that  choice  of  the  body 
of  believers  which  summons  the  person  chosen  to  its 
leadership  in  Christian  teaching  and  work.  To  this 
must,  of  course,  be  added  the  pastor's  acceptance  of  the 
choice  of  the  church.  ''  Mutual  election,"  says  IncreaoC 
Mather,  "is  that  which  doth  essentiate  the  relation  of 
a  pastor  to  this  or  that  particular  church."  ^  Ordination 
is,  therefore,  the  formal  act  confessing  and  ratifying 
this  choice.  "  This  ordination  we  account,"  says  the 
Cambridge  Platform,^  "nothing  else,  but  the  solemn 
putting  a  man  into  his  place  and  office  in  the  church, 
whereunto  he  had  right  before  by  election ;  being  like 
the  installing  of  a  magistrate  in  the  commonwealth."' 
The  elements  of  this  solemn  act  of  induction  were,  in 
the  New  Testament,  two ;  viz.,  the  prayer,  and  the  im- 
position of  hands ;  the  latter  being,  as  the  text  shows 
us,  an  additional  ceremony,  and  not  a  merely  symboli- 
cal accompaniment  of  the  prayer.^  This  ceremony  of 
the  imposition  of  hands  had  served  the  Jews,  since  the 
time  of  Mosaism,  as  a  symbol  and  means  of  the  impart- 
ing of  divine  grace  and  divine  power  in  consecration 
for  the  sacred  offices  of  the  Hebrew  Church.^  In  the 
Apostolic  Church  it  was  regarded  as  both  symbol  and 
means  of  special  divine  grace.^  The  New-Testament 
imposition   of  hands   is  undoubtedly  regarded   by  its 

1  Sermon  at  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Appleton.        2  Chap.  ix.  sect.  2. 

3  See  Acts  vi.  6,  and  Meyer's  note  {Kai,  etc.  .  .  .  rdre,  etc.),  and  com- 
pare Acts  viii.  17. 

4  See  Num.  xxvii.  18,  and  Ewald's  Alterth.,  p.  47. 

6  See  Meyer  on  Acts  vi.  G;  Schaff,  Apostolic  Church,  p.  502;  art. 
Handauflegung,  in  Herzog  and  Plitt;  Neauder,  Planting  and  Training, 
p.  154,  f.  ;  Meyer's  Handbuch;  1  Tim.  iv.  14. 


228  ■?    PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  vii, 

authors  as  dynamic.  Many  of  the  writers  of  Congre- 
gationalism, in  their  zeal  to  guard  against  the  doctrine 
that  imposition  of  hands  is  "  intended  as  a  conveyance 
of  office  power,"  have  been  betrayed  into  extreme  and 
erroneous  statements.'  Yet  the  practice  of  the  fathers 
was,  in  the  respect  of  laying-on  of  hands,  quite  uni- 
form. The  question,  whether  these  acts  of  ordination 
are  necessary  to  constitute  one  chosen  to  that  office 
the  true  pastor  of  a  Congregational  Church,  has  been 
often  and  elaborately  debated.  It  is  not  now  necessary 
to  review  the  debate.  Two  points  upon  which  convic- 
tion may  be  fastened  are  these :  the  choice  of  the  local 
church  is  the  primal  and  essential  element  of  pastoral 
ordination ;  and  this  formal  act  of  induction  should 
occur  as  often  as  the  choice  to  the  office  recurs.  The 
choice  is  necessary  to  constitute  the  office  of  the  pastor- 
ate ;  the  ceremony  of  ordination,  with  at  least  its  two 
essential  elements  of  prayer  and  imposition  of  hands,  is 
necessary  to  a  decent  and  orderhj  induction  into  that 
office.  In  these  essential  regards  the  true  church  polity 
knows  no  difference  between  installation  and  ordination. 
Granting,  then,  that  this  solemn  act  of  induction  is 
in  accordance  with  the  example  of  the  New  Testament 
and  with  the  ancient  and  honorable  customs  of  Con- 
gregationalism, the  question  arises,  By  whom  shall  the 
act  be  initiated  ?  To  this  question  only  one  answer  can 
be  given.  The  right  and  obligation  both  to  initiate  and 
to  consummate  the  ordination  with  its  appropriate  ser- 
vice, and  symbolic  impartation  of  divine  gifts,  rest  where 
the  original  and  primal  element  of  ordination  abides : 
they  rest,  that  is  to  say,  with  the  local  church.     The 

1  As,  for  example,  that  the  imposition  of  hands  had  to  do  only  with 
the  conveying  of  miraculous  gifts:  it  is,  therefore,  an  obsolete  ceremony. 
So  Isaac  Chauncey,  Div.  Inst,  of  Congregational  Churches,  pp.  74-83. 


LECT.  VII.]  THE   PERSONS    WHO   ORDArN.  229 

right  and  privilege  and  obligation  to  induct  into  office 
are  with  the  people  who  elect  to  the  office :  the  blame 
and  shame  and  risk  are  with  them  in  case  they  neglect 
or  refuse  thus  to  consummate  their  choice.  Whoever, 
therefore,  pra3^s  and  lays  on  hands  at  the  ordaining  of 
a  Congregational  pastor,  does  so  as  invited  and  delegated 
by  the  ordaining  church.  The  right  of  the  ordaining 
council  is  always  a  delegated  right.^ 

But  to  whom,  we  inquire  further,  does  the  Church 
most  fitly  delegate  this  right?  In  the  practice  of 
the  New  Testament  they  who  imposed  hands  were  the 
apostles  or  their  delegates,  the  presbyter-bishops  of  the 
churches,  and,  in  the  case  of  the  induction  of  Paul  and 
Barnabas  into  their  great  missionary  work,  the  Chris- 
tian prophets  and  teachers;  these  all  always  acting  in 
the  name  and  behalf  of  the  body  of  believers.  The 
apostles  are  not  with  us,  and  their  vicegerents,  or  suc- 
cessors in  unbroken  line,  we  cannot  discover,  even  if 
we  felt  them  necessary  for  use  in  valid  ordination. 
Both  the  practice  of  the  New  Testament,^  and  the  an- 
cient practice  of  our  church  order,  lead  us  to  conclude 
that  the  elders  of  the  local  church  which  has  chosen 
the  new  officer  are  the  persons  fittest,  in  the  name  and 
behalf  of  the  church,  to  induct  him  into  his  office. 
Says  the  chapter  on  discipline  in  the  Savoy  Confession, 
'"'  The  way  of  ordaining  officers  is  .  .  .  with  fasting  and 
prayer,  and  imposition  of  hands  of  the  eldership  of  the 
church."  And  says  the  Cambridge  Platform,''^  "  In  such 
churches  where  there  are  elders,  imposition  of  hands 
in  ordination  is  to  be  performed  by  those  elders." 

1  See  Historical  Sketch  of  Congregational  Churches  in  Mass.,  p.  23. 

2  Tlie  college  of  elders  referred  to  1  Tim.  iv.  14,  and  who  imposed 
hands  npou  Timothy,  were,  at  least  for  the  most  part,  ofBcers  of  the 
local  church  which  ordained  him.  See  Grimm's  lexicon  and  Meyer's 
Handbuch.  3  Chap.  ix.  sect.  3. 


230  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.        [lect.  vii. 

This  right  of  the  local  church  to  ordain  its  own  pas- 
tor by  the  laying-on  of  the  hands  of  its  own  college  of 
elders  does  not,  however,  remove  its  obligation,  in  the 
act  of  ordiration,  to  have  communion  with  neighboring 
churches.  Even  in  the  case  of  Timothy  it  is  at  least 
a  fair  question  whether  the  ordaining  college  of  elders 
did  not  comprise,  also,  certain  officers  of  other  churches, 
since,  as  we  know,  it  did  include  the  apostle  Paul.^  If 
our  Congregational  churches  in  these  days  were  so 
furnished  as  to  be  able  to  ordain  their  own  pastors  at 
the  hands  of  their  own  elders,  the  real  communion  of 
churches  need  not  be  diminished  by  this  form  of  ordina- 
tion. 

I  am  ready,  then,  to  give  again,  most  emphatically, 
the  advice  of  Rev.  John  Wise  :  ''  Furnish  your  churches 
with  (ruling)  elders."  Unfortunately,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
and  in  a  mistaken  departure  from  New-Testament  usage, 
our  churches  have,  in  general,  no  college  of  presbyter- 
bishops  to  act  in  their  behalf.  We  cannot  say,  as  did 
the  Independents  in  the  Westminster  Assembly,  "  There 
is  a  sufficient  presbytery  for  ordination  in  every  congre- 
gation." The  pastor  as  an  elder  cannot  lay  hands  on  his 
own  head  as  a  pastor.  The  question  then  recurs  for  an 
answer,  Wlio  shall  stand  for  the  church  in  consummat- 
ing its  ordaining  choice  by  the  ordaining  prayer  and  by 
the  imposition  of  hands  ? 

There  is  abundant  evidence  ^  to  the  truth,  that,  by 
confessed  application  of  Congregational  principles,  the 

1  See  2  Tim.  i.  6.  "Paul,"  says  De  Wette,  who  is  quoted  with  ax)- 
proval  by  Meyer,  "conjointly  with  the  elders,  and,  indeed,  as  the  first 
among  them,  administered  the  imposition  of  hands."  Some  commenta- 
tors, as,  e.g.,  Moeller  (in  t)e  W^ette)  and  Ellicott,  speak  of  this  Trpeo-^uTepioi' 
as  composed  of  the  elders  of  the  j^lace  (Lystra  or  Ej^hesus)  where  the 
ordination  was. 

2  See  Congregational  Dictionary,  pp.  285,  ff.,  and  the  references  there 
given. 


LECT.  VII.]  LAY-ORDmATION.  231 

congregation  of  believers  may  proceed  to  consummate 
their  own  choice,  inducting,  by  tlie  "  most  fit  members  " 
and  means  they  have  at  disposal,  their  chosen  pastor 
into  his  office.  "  In  such  churches  where  there  are  no 
elders,"  says  the  Platform,^  "  imposition  of  hands  may  be 
performed  by  some  of  the  brethren  orderly  chosen  by 
the  church  thereunto."  It  has  been  held,  however,  that 
only  extraordinary  circumstances  and  extreme  cases 
could  justify  the  resort  to  lay -ordination.  Among  such 
circumstances  and  cases  are  instanced,  by  Barrowe, 
the  case  of  apostasy  so  general  that  no  true  elders  are 
anywhere  to  be  found ;  by  Richard  ]Mather  and  W. 
Tompson,  the  case  where  elders  cannot  be  conveniently 
borrowed  from  any  other  church.  Indeed,  the  views  of 
the  so-called  authorities  have  differed  upon  this  whole 
subject,  from  that  of  President  Stiles,  who  says,^  "It 
was  a  mistaken  notion  of  our  fathers  that  the  power  of 
ordination  was  in  the  church  by  the  elders,"  to  that  of 
Davenport,  who  declares,^  "■  Their  ordination  of  officers 
...  is  an  act  of  the  power  of  the  keys  residing  in 
them  ; "  from  that  of  Ainsworth,  who  maintains,*  "  That 
ministers  of  one  particular  church  should  ordain  elders 
for  another  church  is  more  unorderly  than  when  every 
church  ordaineth  them  itself,"  to  the  opposite  opinion 
of  Increase  Mather,^  who  supposes  lay-ordination  valid 
indeed,  but,  when  elders  may  be  attained,  not  decent.^ 

1  Cambridge  Platform,  chaj).  ix.  sect.  4. 

2  Election  Sermon. 

3  Hanbury,  II.  ji.  64. 

4  Reply  to  Johnson,  Hanbury,  I.  p.  252. 

5  Vindication  of  New-England  Churches,  p.  100. 

6  Owen's  view  may  be  learned  from  the  following  passages:  "For 
that  part  of  it  (ordination)  which  consists  in  the?  imposition  of  hands  by 
the  i^resbytery.  .  .  I  think  it  necessary  by  virtue  of  j^recept  and  that 
(it  ought)  to  be  continued  by  waj'  of  succession.  It  is,  I  say,  according 
to  the  mind  of  Christ,  that  he  who  is  to  be  ordained  into  ofHce  in  any 
church  receive  imposition  of  hands  from  the  elders  of  that  church,  if 


232  PRINCIPLES    OF    CHURCH   POLITY.        [lect.  vii. 

Ordination  by  tlie  congregation  alone,  and  without 
communion  with  other  churches,  has  u.nfrequently,  al- 
though not  very  rarely,  been  practised  by  New-England 
Congregationalism.  The  most  notable  cases  are,  per- 
haps, those  of  Rev.  Francis  Higginson  and  Rev.  Samuel 
Skelton  as  pastor  and  teacher  of  the  First  Church  in 
Salem,^  and,  thirty  years  later,  of  Rev.  John  Higginson  as 
pastor  over  the  same  church.^  The  churches  at  Charles- 
town,  Lynn,  and  Woburn,  have  each  practised  lay-ordi- 
nation.3  In  the  case  of  Francis  Higginson  and  Samuel 
Skelton,  we  are  told  that  the  former,  and  "three  or  four 
more  of  the  gravest  members  of  the  church,"  laid  hands 
on  the  latter,  and  then  himself  received  imposition  of 
hands  in  the  same  manner.  Of  John  Higginson  it  is 
said  that  Major  Hawthorne  and  the  deacons  imposed 
hands  upon  him  in  the  presence  of  the  neighboring 
churches  and  elders. 

Lay-ordination  is  now  an  obsolete  ceremony.  Cotton 
Mather  represents  it,  as,  even  in  his  time,  having  gone 
into  disuse.  But  it  cannot,  therefore,  be  called  uncon- 
gregational  or  uuscriptural ;  and  circumstances  may  still 

there  be  any  therein;  and  this  is  to  be  done  in  a  way  of  succession,  tliat 
so  the  churches  may  be  perpetuated  "  (Works,  XIII.  p.  219).  "  But  how- 
far  any  people  or  church  may  commit  over  the  power  of  declaring  their 
consent  and  acquiescency  unto  others  to  act  for  them,  as  it  were  in  tlieir 
stead,  so  as  that  the  call  to  ofUce  should  yet  be  valid,  and  provided  the 
former  rules  be  observed,  I  will  not  dispute  with  any,  though  I  approve 
only  of  what  maketh  the  nearest  approaches  to  the  primitive  pattern 
that  the  circumstances  of  things  are  capable  of  "  (Works,  IV.  p.  405,  f.). 

1  Genesis  of  New-England  Churches,  p.  473.  The  first  authority  is 
Gott's  letter  to  Bradford,  Massachusetts  Historical  Collection,  III. 
p.  67,  f. 

2  President  Stiles's  claim,  that  he  never  found  with  certainty  more 
than  one  instance  of  the»lay-ordinatiou  of  a  person  tiever  be/ore  ordained, 
does  not  cover  the  question,  as  the  words  Italicized  by  me  will  show. 

3  See  Hutchinson,  History  of  Massachusetts,  I.  p.  10,  f. ;  Historical 
Sketch,  etc.,  p.  14;  Eliot,  History  of  Massachusetts  (Historical  Society 
Collection,  series  I.  vol.  ix.  p.  39), 


LECT.  vn.] 


LAY-ORDINATIOK.  233 


arise  in  which  its  practice  will  be  the  privilege  and  even 
the  duty  of  Congregationalists.  Should  the  central- 
izing tendency  be  carried  too  far,  and  the  demands  of 
ordaining  councils  become  too  complex  and  onerous,  the 
custom  may  fitly  be  revived.  Pastors  so  ordained  will 
not,  for  that  reason  solely,  cease  to  be  Congregational 
pastors  orderly  inducted  into  office:  churches  so  or- 
daining their  pastors  will  not, /or  that  reason  solely,  cease 
to  be  Congregational  churches  in  good  standing. 

But  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  there  is  a  wide  dif- 
ference between  the  deliberate  and  conscientious  prac- 
tice, on  due  occasion,  of  lay-ordination,  and  the  careless, 
slovenly  disregard  of  all  ordination  whatever.  Such 
disregard,  now  wide-spread  among  our  churches,  leads 
to  clisesteem  of  the  pastoral  office ;  is,  unlike  lay-ordi- 
nation, connected  with  open  disrespect  of  the  plainest 
rules  for  the  communion  of  churches ;  and  tends  toward 
unsoundness  of  the  ministry  in  doctrine,  and  looseness 
in  morals.  Every  church  which  wishes  to  act  in  an 
orderly  and  scriptural  way  should  consummate  its  choice 
of  a  pastor  —  for  no  matter  what  length  of  time  chosen 
—  by  an  act  of  solemn  induction  into  his  pastoral  office. 
For  this  act  no  burdensome  and  elaborate  service  is 
necessary.  The  indispensable  elements  of  the  act  are 
simply  the  prayer  of  consecration  and  the  imposition  of 
hands.  And  every  church  (if  such  church  is  now  to  be 
found)  which  regards  itself  as  unable  to  commune  with 
its  sister-churches  in  ordaining  its  pastor,  whether  on 
account  of  great  inconvenience,  or  definite  risk  to  its 
liberties,  should  duly  and  prayerfully  resort  to  lay-ordi- 
nation. Every  such  church  should,- in  the  midst  of  a 
day  of  fasting  and  supplication,  by  "  most  fit  members  " 
■  "orderly  chosen,"  consecrate  its  pastor  in  public  prayer, 
and  lay  holy  hands  upon  his  head  as  a  symbol  and  means 


234  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  vii. 

of  divine  blessing.  And  should  the  hand  of  one  of  the 
elders,  or  other  fit  members  chosen,  have,  as  it  is  said 
to  have  happened  in  the  ordination  of  Israel  Chauncey, 
a  leathern  mitten  upon  it,  to  be  blessed  with  such  impo- 
sition of  hands  is  far  better  than  to  have,  as  pastor  of 
that  particular  visible  church,  an  unblessed  head.  Let 
me  here  commend  this  course  to  every  pastor-elect.  If 
he  be  elect  only  for  a  single  year,  he  should  wisely  insist 
upon  having  his  election  consummated  with  ordination ; 
and  if  the  church  be  unwilling  to  call  a  council  in  our 
present  somewhat  too  cumbersome  fashion,  let  them  or- 
dain the  pastor  themselves.  To  their  most  fit  members 
orderly  chosen,  and  coram  ecclesia^  let  the  pastor-elect 
make  confession  of  faith  and  profession  of  experience, 
for  examination  as  to  his  fitness  to  be  their  pastor ;  and 
by  them,  in  behalf  of  the  church,  let  him  be  inducted 
into  his  ofiice.  This  course  I  commend,  not  having  be- 
fore my  eyes  the  fear  of  the  author  of  a  certain  pam- 
phlet,^ who  thinks  that  the  "  Pious  Patriarchs  "  were 
"  drove  iuto  "  a  mistake  upon  the  question  of  ordination; 
who  accuses  the  Cambridge  Platform  of  obscurity,  com- 
mends President  Stiles  for  tracing  our  ordinations  in  the 
line  of  presbyters  up  to  the  apostolic  age,  and  declares 
that  the  witness  of  the  General  Court  and  the  Synod  of 
1662  "  ought  to  silence  and  shame  all  those  schismatics 
who  arrogantly  and  insolently  pretend  to  patronize  their 
disorderly  Independent  sentiments  and  conduct  by  the 
platform."  I  am  of  the  opinion,  however,  that  ordi- 
nation by  the  "leathern  mitten"  makes  a  man  more 
completely  a  pastor  by  far  than  the  utter  lack  of  ordi- 
nation, now  so  prevalent,  suffers  him  to  be. 

The  practice  of  ordination  should,  however,  be  modi-  ■ 

1  Congregationalism   as  contained  in  the  Scriptures,  etc.,  Boston, 
January,  1794. 


LECT.  VII.]  ORDINATION  BY  COMMUNION  OF  CHUECHES.  235 

fied  and  fixed  in  accordance  with  the  principle  of  the 
communion  of  cliurches.     In  the  feeling  of  this  truth 
the  practice  of  historic  Congregationalism  has  been  much 
more  uniform  than  its  variety  of  opinion  would  lead 
us  to  suppose  possible.     This  practice  has  ordinarily 
secured   the    presence   and   assistance    of   neighboring 
churches  in  the  ordaining  of  the  chosen  pastor.     These 
elders  and  messengers  of  other  churches  can  never,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten,  have  other  than  a  delegated  work 
and  an  authority  of  influence.    They  ought,  also,  to  com- 
bine with  themselves,  even  in  the  ordaining  prayer  and 
in  the  imposition  of  hands,  the  assistance  of  the  officers 
of  the  church  to  whicli  they  come,  whenever  this  is 
possible.     Recognition  of  the  principle  of  communion 
of  churches  was,  however,  made  in  most  even  of  those 
earliest  cases  of  lay-ordination.     Of  the  First  Church  in 
Salem,  in  the  case  of  Higginson  and  Skelton,  we  are 
told,  "  Notice  was  given  of  their  intended  proceedings 
to  the  church  at  New  Plymouth  (then  their  only  neigh- 
bor), that  so  they  might  have   their  approbation  and 
concurrence,  if  not  their  direction  and  assistance,  in  a 
matter  of  that  nature."  ^     When  the  same  church  or- 
dained Rev.  John  Higginson  by  Major  Hawthorne  and 
others,  it  was  done  in  the  presence  of  the  elders  and 
messengers  from  the  churches  of  Ipswich,  Lynn,  Read- 
ing, and  Boston,  who,  by  the  act  of  Mr.  Norton,  teacher 
of  the  church  of  Boston,  gave  the  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship.2     And  in  November,  1683,  the  same  church  or- 
dained Mr.  Noys  as  teacher  "  by  imposition  of  hands  of 
the  pastor,  and  Mr.  Hubbard  of  Ipswich,  and  Mr.  Phillips 
of  Rowly."3 

1  See  Hubbard's  History,  p.  118  ;  Morton's  New-England  Memorial, 
p.  145  ;  Magnalia  I.,  iv.  G. 

2  Account  taken  from  the  original  records,  and  found  in  New-Eng- 
land Congregationalism,  etc.,  p.  46. 

3  Ibid.,  p.  89. 


236  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  vn. 

The  practice  of  ordination  by  help  of  the  ministers 
of  sister-churches  lias,  indeed,  no  direct  warrant  from 
the  usage  of  the  New  Testament.  It  is  not,  for  that 
reason,  contrary  to  the  principles  of  a  true  church 
polity  as  derived  from  the  New  Testament.  Indeed, 
it  may,  when  rightly  practised,  be  regarded  as  a  most 
happy  and  safe  means  of  harmonizing  the  principle  of 
the  autonomy  of  the  local  church  and  the  principle  of 
the  communion  of  churches,  as  well  as  the  most  availa- 
ble and  sure  means  of  securing  and  preserving  the 
purity  in  doctrine  and  life  of  the  ministry.  The  cus- 
toms of  our  church  order  have  now  for  a  considerable 
time  been  in  this  respect  nearly  uniform.  "  Neverthe- 
less," says  the  Cambridge  Platform, ^  "  in  such  churches 
where  there  are  no  elders,  and  the  church  so  desire,  we 
see  not  why  imposition  of  hands  may  not  be  performed 
by  the  elders  of  other  churches."  The  modern  prac- 
tice decides  rather  to  have  no  elders  besides  the  pastor 
in  any  of  the  particular  churches,  and,  in  case  of  ordi- 
nation, to  call  upon  the  elders  of  neighboring  churches. 

What,  then,  is  the  nature  of  that  communion  be- 
tween churches  which  is  j^racticable  where  a  pastor  is 
ordained  by  the  elders  of  other  churches?  and  how  far 
does  this  communion  operate  to  secure  and  conserve 
the  purity  in  faith  and  life  of  the  ministry  ?  In  reply 
we  may  say,  first,  that  the  bare  presence  of  the  officers 
and  members  of  other  churches  to  witness  the  cere- 
mony of  ordination  is  by  no  means  without  influence. 
The  common  interest  in  the  transaction  is  thus  ac- 
knowledged :  the  manifestation  of  this  common  inter- 
est is  a  safeguard  and  encouragement  to  the  pastor  and 
church  most  intimately  interested. 

According  to  our  present  custom,  however,  it  is  the 

1  Chap.  ix.  sect.  5. 


LECT.  VII.]        EXAMINATION    FOR   ORDINATION.  237 

examination  tlirougli  which  the  churches  summoned 
expect  to  exert  their  influence  toward  securing  and 
preserving  a  faithful  ministry  in  the  church  that  issues 
the  summons.  The  examination  by  the  elders  of  other 
churches  for  ordination  as  pastor  is  not  found  in  early 
Congregationalism  :  it  is,  indeed,  very  doubtful  whether 
it  would  have  been  in  accordance  with  the  notions  then 
prevalent  of  propriety  and  rights.  The  pastor,  like 
every  member  of  the  church,  and,  on  account  of  his 
prominence  in  office,  more  especially  than  any  other, 
was  expected  to  manifest  before  his  own  church  his 
integrity  in  the  faith.  The  doctrinal  soundness  of  the 
earliest  pastors  was  rarely  questioned :  no  occasion  for 
such  questioning  arose.  Indeed,  the  earliest  pastors 
came  to  their  churches  in  New  England  as  men  already 
tried  and  found  trustworthy  in  the  ministry  of  the  gos- 
pel. Later  on  we  begin  to  find  evidences  of  effort  to 
examine  more  carefully  the  candidates  for  ordination 
as  pastors :  we  find,  also,  complaints  of  councils  for 
neglecting  such  an  examination.  In  1699  Increase 
Mather  and  nine  others  sent  forth  their  "  Advice  unto 
the  churches  of  New  England,"  —  "to  beware  of  run- 
ning after  new  preachers  of  whose  endowments  and 
principles  they  have  not  had  a  reasonable  attestation." 
In  this  "  Advice  "  they  express  their  intention  not  to 
admit  any  stranger  into  their  pulpits  without  passing 
him  through  "a  solemn  examination  of  his  capacity." 
From  the  footnote  of  a  sermon  preached  by  Dr.  Hop- 
kins in  1768  we  learn  of  his  fear  that  ordaining  coun- 
cils were  beginning  "to  neglect  the  examination  of 
candidates  for  the  ministry  with  respect  to  their  reli- 
gious sentiments."  ^  It  was  probably  the  Unitarian 
controversy  which  served  to  fix  the  custom,  as  it  now 
1  See  Historical  Sketch,  etc.,  p.  197,  f. 


238  PRINCIPLES   OF   CPIUPtCH   POLITY.        [lkct.  vii. 

exists,  of  examining  every  candidate  for  ordination  as 
pastor  of  a  Congregational  church.  To  this  custom 
the  principles  of  a  true  church  polity  oppose  no  objec- 
tion, so  long  as  they  are  not  themselves  violated  by  the 
nature  of  the  examination.  The  ordaining  council 
should,  however,  never  forget  the  fact  that  they  are 
acting  as  delegates  under  commission,  and  in  behalf  of 
the  church  which  invited  them.  But  they  have  the 
right,  and  upon  them  is  laid  the  obligation,  to  use  rea- 
sonable means  to  discover  whether  the  facts  will  war- 
rant them  in  giving  the  advice  desired,  executing  the 
act  planned  for,  and  pledging  the  fellowship  of  the  com- 
munity of  churches.  This  examination  is,  therefore, 
in  its  present  form,  a  somewhat  late  invention :  it  can 
never  be  regarded  as  other  than  an  adventitious  and 
temporary  resource,  rather  thaii  an  essential  element  of 
Congregational  ordination.  In  its  details  it  is  necessa- 
rily subject  to  constant  change :  now  one  point  of  doc- 
trine may  need  to  be  most  pressed,  and  now  another : 
in  many  cases,  all  detailed  examination  may  most  wisely 
be  omitted.  The  entire  practice  may  at  no  distant  day 
cease,  and  ordination  be,  on  that  account,  no  less  valid 
and  safe.  But,  as  long  as  the  examination  is  regarded 
by  the  communing  churches  and  pastors  in  the  light  of 
a  requisite  to  safe  and  hearty  communion,  it  should  be 
cheerfully  submitted  to  by  the  ordaining  church  and  by 
the  candidate  for  ordination. 

That  the  real  nature  and  desired  effect  of  this  exami- 
nation may  be  made  apparent,  we  give  it  still  further 
attention.'  No  rules  for  its  conduct  which  shall  before- 
hand determine  all  cases  can  reasonably  be  given  :  none 

1  For  a  full  statement  of  the  items  which  make  up  the  work  of  an 
ordaining  council,  we  must  refer  to  the  manuals,  especially  to  Dr. 
Baxter's  Congregationalism,  pp.  171,  ff. 


LECT.  VII.]        EXAMINATION   FOR   ORDINATION.  239 

such  are  to  be  accepted  by  whomsoever  given.     Certain 
principles  of  Cliristian  rationality,  courtesy,  and  good 
sense,  should  govern  all  cases.     The  real  object  of  the 
examination  in  doctrinal  belief  should  always  be  kept 
in  view :  it  is  to  have  real  communion  with  the  ordain- 
ing church,  and  by  this  communion  to  secure  a  more 
faithful  ministry.     Tlie  act  of  ordination  looks  toward 
the  future  in  two  directions,  —  toward  the  watch  and 
care  of  this  particular  pastor,  and  toward  the  purity  in 
doctrine  and  life  of  all  the  churches.     The  examination 
for  ordination  as  pastor  is,  therefore,  essentially  unlike 
the  examination  for  licensure.     The  latter  should  be 
much  more  exacting  and  comprehensive  than  it  usually 
is.     It  should  search  into  the  sufficiency  of  the  candi- 
date's literary  acquisitions,  his  ability  to  expound  the 
Bible,  to  define  and  defend  his  views,  not  only  of  bibli- 
cal  truth,    but   also   of  critical,    dogmatic,    and   meta- 
physico-religious  opinions.     It   should   especially  have 
regard  to  the  fitness  and  motive  of  the  candidate  for 
becoming  a  minister  at  all.     But  the  main  object  of  the 
examination  for  ordination  as  a  pastor  -is  quite  different 
from  all  this.     This  examination  receives  its  candidate 
as  an  already  accredited  minister  of  the  gospel.     Its 
intent  is  to  determine  whether  he  is  so  fit  for  the  pas- 
torate of  a  particular  church  that  advice  can  be  given 
to  this  church  to  consummate  its  ordaining  choice  with 
the  formal  act  of  ordination,  and  whether  the  sister 
churches  represented  can  pledge  themselves  to    com- 
mune with  this  church  on  the  basis  of  their  act   in 
ordaining   this   particular   man   as   their   pastor.     The 
attempt  to  determine  these  questions  chiefly  by  a  de- 
tailed examination  in  the  various  branches  of  theologi- 
cal science   is   out   of  place,  unless,    indeed,    there    is 
ground  to  believe  that  the  examination  for  licensure 


240  PRINCIPLES   OP   CHURCH   POLITY.        [lect.  vn, 

was  altogether  untrustworthy,  or  that  the  views  of  the 
candidate  have,  since  licensure,  essentially  changed  in 
some  important  particular.  Doubtless  in  far  too  many 
cases  there  is  ground  for  believing  that  the  previous 
work  of  examination  has  not  been  thoroughly  done. 
But  in  itself  the  sight  of  a  body  of  ministers  with  ear- 
trumpets  in  ears,  and  like  the  good  old  Scotch  woman 
in  the  case  of  Norman  McCleod,  making  their  man 
"gang  ouer  the  fundamentals,"  is  not  demonstrably  the 
indispensable  thing  at  an  ordination  service.  "  Going 
over  the  fundamentals"  is  an  exceedingly  good  prac- 
tice for  Congregational  pastors.  It  is  not,  however, 
by  any  means  necessary  as  a  basis  upon  which  they 
may  give  safe  advice  to  a  Congregational  church  in  the 
matter  of  ordaining  its  pastor. 

Until,  however,  we  are  more  reasonably  confident  in 
the  thoroughness  of  the  inquiries  which  precede  appro- 
bating to  preach  at  all,  our  customs  are  not  likely  to 
conform  strictly  to  the  reasonableness  of  a  pure  theory. 
That  a  minister  who  comes  with  a  clear  record  to  the 
office  of  pastor  in  any  particular  church  is  sound  in  the 
faith,  and  upright  in  life,  should  always  be  assumed  by 
an  ordaining  council.  The  pushing  of  the  candidate  to 
the  wall  by  sharp  sword-practice,  the  display  of  skill  in 
witty  repartee,  the  stalwart  gymastics  in  dogmatics  and 
metaphysics,  the  effort  to  confuse  and  entrap,  —  these 
are  not  helpful  ways  of  communion  in  love  with  brother- 
ministers  and  sister-churches.  The  occurrence  of  each 
opportunity  to  examine  for  ordination  should,  however, 
afford  means  for  keeping  our  ministry  pure.  If  the 
candidate  is  by  common  rumor  believed  to  have  taught, 
or  if  he  is  intending  to  teach,  views  the  compatibility 
of  which  with  the  fullest  enjoyment  of  the  communion 
of  neighboring  churches  is  matter  of  doubt,  then  those 


LECT.  VII.]        EXAMINATION  FOR   OEDINATION.  241 

views  should  be  frankly  stated,  fully  discussed  so  far  as 
their  bearing  upon  the  case  in  band  is  concerned,  and 
submitted  to  the  council  as  constituting  a  part  of  its 
rational  ground  of  advice.  With  the  private  studies 
and  conclusions  upon  doubtful  points  of  biblical  criti- 
cism or  speculative  theology  which  belong  to  the  can- 
didate, the  council  has  nothing  whatever  to  do.  It 
must,  as  well  as  the  candidate,  conduct  the  whole  mat- 
ter so  as  best  to  guard  against  the  malignant  canker  of 
professional  dishonesty,  which  is  the  more  fatal,  the 
more  it  is  covered  over  with  the  plaster  of  an  unintel- 
ligent and  unhearty  confession,  or  anointed  with  the 
salve  of  Jesuitical  casuistry. 

Moreover,  certain  questions  quite  customarily  left  in 
the  background  should  be  brought  conspicuously  for- 
ward in  every  examination  for  ordination  as  pastor. 
Does  the  candidate  enter  the  pastorate  of  this  particular 
visible  church  with  purity  and  zeal  of  intent,  to  serve 
all  the  people  with  his  whole  heart?  Is  the  mutual 
attitude  of  pastor  and  people  one  of  such  esteem,  confi- 
dence, and  unity  in  love,  as  promises  success  ?  Does 
the  leader  intend  to  spur  and  lead  the  church  in  Chris- 
tian activities  ?  Will  he  make  the  church  a  missionary 
church  as  well  as  keep  it  an  orthodox  church?  Will 
he  lead  the  people  in  Christ's  love  and  care  for  the 
poor?  Will  he  take  his  place,  and  lead  his  church  to 
take  its  place,  in  all  the  practical  exercises  of  the  com- 
munion of  churches?  If  ordaining  councils  examined 
both  the  church  and  the  pastor  upon  these  matters  of 
the  life-blood,  the  imposition  of  hands  would  be,  as  it 
was  in  apostolic  times,  both  a  means  and  a  symbol  of 
blessing. 

Closely  connected  with  our  inquiry  into  the  nature 
of    the  examination  stands  this  other    inquiry,  What 


242  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.        [lect.  vu. 

measure  of  agreement  in  doctrinal  belief  should  be 
required  between  the  ordaining  council  and  the  church 
and  pastor  requesting  the  act  of  ordination  ?  In  answer 
I  make  the  three  following  remarks  :  — 

1.  The  subject  of  agreement  is  as  to  truths  taught  in 
the.  name  of  the  Scriptures  and  of  Christ  to  the  people, 
and  not  as  to  piivate  opinions  held  upon  doubtful 
matters  of  critical  or  speculative  inquiry.  Agreement, 
then,  should  be  required  as  to  the  alleged  divine  truth 
to  be  taught,  and  not  as  to  matters  of  private  opinion. 
The  teaching  of  the  pulpit  should  conduce  to  the  same 
twofold  end  toward  which  the  church  is  moving  for- 
ward in  history.  This  teaching  should  edify  tlie  church, 
and  convert  the  world.  To  teach  the  Mosaic  or  the 
non-Mosaic  authorship  of  the  entire  Pentateuch  has 
little  real  tendency  to  promote  these  ends.  Granted 
the  fair  assumption  that  the  teaching  of  every  pastor 
will  be  honest  teaching,  the  inquiry  after  agreement 
should  concern  this  teaching. 

2.  The  extent  of  agreement  should  be  as  to  the 
fundamentals  of  Christian  doctrine,  and  not  as  to  the 
details  of  opinion.  This  statement  does  not,  indeed, 
define  any  fixed  method  of  procedure,  or  guarantee  any 
definite  result ;  for  even  Congregational  pastors  differ 
as  to  what  is  fundamental.  That  which  appears  as 
fundamental  in  one  age,  the  next  age  regards  as  matter 
of  opinion.  The  Edwardean  theory  of  the  will  has 
been  considered  in  some  regions  as  necessary  for  a  Con- 
gregational pastor :  to  hold  what  may  now  be  regarded 
as  the  dominant  view  of  that  theory  has  made  heresi- 
archs  of  good  and  notable  men.^  At  present  we  are 
occupied  in  determining  how  far  a  particular  view  of 
the  nature  of  future  punishment,  or  a  special  form  of 

1  Compare  Professor  Park's  Fitness  of  the  Church,  p.  41,  f. 


LECT.  VII.]         ORDINATION  AS   A   SAFEGUARD.  243 

theory  for  the  great  fact  of  atonement,  is  a  requisite  for 
our  ministry.  No  settlement,  but  that  which  comes  in 
history  as  the  church  under  the  leadership  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  enabled  to  stand  at  those  points  of  view  where 
reason  and  Scripture  unite,  can  be  a  final  settlement 
of  these  questions.  It  is,  however,  our  duty  to  be  alert 
to  the  answer  of  all  these  questions ;  and  as  that  an- 
swer comes  to  us  will  our  duty  be  made  clear.  Assent 
to  the  truths  taught  by  the  Word  of  God  in  Scripture 
as  fundamental  truths  of  Rede^nption  must  be  made  a 
basis  of  the  communion  of  churches.  Such  assent  must 
be  required  of  every  Christian  teacher.  In  determining 
what  truths  are  so  fundamental  as  to  make  assent  to 
them  requisite,  each  ordaining  council  in  each  act  must 
use  the  best  light  it  can  obtain.  In  its  work  it  should 
ask  and  expect  light  from  the  Spirit  of  all  light. 

3.  An  ordaining  council  should  be  more  ready  to  con- 
cede that  the  local  church  has  been  divinely  directed 
in  the  choice  of  a  pastor  than  to  press  objections,  or  ob- 
trude fears.  To  advise  a  church  against  its  deliberate 
choice  is  always  a  difficult  and  dangerous  task ;  yet 
would  there  be  no  meaning  in  asking  advice,  and  no 
sense  in  ordination  by  council,  and  no  reality  in  this 
form  of  the  communion  of  churches,  if  such  advice  may 
not  at  times  be  boldly  and  kindly  given.  Captious 
and  dictatorial  manners  are  always  bad  manners.  But 
the  hand  of  fellowship  should  never  be  given  in  sham- 
ming. The  refusal  to  approve  should  be  frank  and 
fearless  where  the  charitable  heart  cannot  approve. 
The  refusal  should  be  on  the  ground  of  the  incompati- 
bility of  the  candidate's  views  and  conduct  with  truth, 
and  not  with  any  factitious  standards  of  truth.  This 
genuine  communion  of  churches  in  ordaining  pastors 
will  do  much  to  cont,erve  and  foitify  the  doctrinal  and 


244  PEINCrPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  vii. 

moral  soundness  of  our  ministry.  And  let  me  not  fail 
to  add,  that  immorality,  even  if  it  be  only  those  com- 
moner forms  of  irascibility,  quarrelsomeness,  and  ava- 
rice, lack  of  love  for  the  good  and  of  discretion  in  Chris- 
tian work,  with  which  the  mmistry  are  most  vexed, 
should  be  much  more  closely  scrutinized  and  sharply 
rebuked  than  minor  errors  of  opinion.  Can  we  forget 
that  the  apostle  distinctly  forbids  the  pastorate  to  those 
who  conspicuously  offend  in  these  things?  A  quarrel 
with  his  church  and  an  unchristian  farewell-sermon 
should  make  any  minister's  next  settlement  a  difficult 
affair.  It  should  have  more  influence  with  an  ordaining 
council  than  his  merely  critical  opinions. 

The  inquiry  now  arises,  How  shall  we  defend  the 
validity  of  this  safeguard  and  the  reasonableness  of  our 
polity,  when  divers  councils  give  diverse  answers  to  the 
same  questions?  What  if  one  pastor  be  ordained  in 
New  Jersey,  and  another  candidate  holding  similar  views 
be  refused  ordination  in  Maine  ?  What  if  the  same 
man  who  fails  to  gain  ordination  at  the  hands  of  one 
council  receive  it  at  the  hands  of  another?  What  if 
advice  contradict  advice,  and  council  contravene  coun- 
cil ?  Conflicts  of  law  and  diverse  advices  and  decisions 
are  not  peculiar  to  Congregationalism.  If  Meyer  cor- 
rect De  Wette,  or  Hengstenberg  and  Ewald  fail  to  agree 
over  a  Psalm,  we  do  not,  therefore,  abjure  all  commen- 
taries. If  the  decision  of  the  Lower  Court  be  appealed, 
and  reversed  by  the  Supreme  Court,  we  do  not,  there- 
fore, decry  all  human  judicial  proceedings.  If  the  synod 
be  apppealed  to  from  the  presbytery,  and  reverse  its  de- 
cision, and  then  the  troublesome  question  be  actually 
carried  to  the  highest  form  of  the  court  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  if  angry  words,  shameful  passions,  cross-purposes, 
and  contradictory  judgments,  distress  the  General  As- 


LECT.  vn.]         ORDINATION   AS   A   SATEGUAED.  245 

sembly,  even  then  we  restrain  our  impulse  to  exhort  all 
people,  Beware  of  Presbyterianism.  These  embryonic 
truths  will  come  to  their  full  growth  only  through  the 
midwifery  of  discussion  and  experience.  The  pains  of 
the  process  are  escaped  by  no  means  of  ordering, 
churches :  they  are  better  borne,  we  believe,  in  the  New- 
Testament  way  than  in  any  other.  He  has  an  inherent 
fault  in  vision  who  longs  to  see  the  gilt  robe  of  some 
infallible  Roman  pontiff,  and  does  not  rather  choose  the. 
variety  of  coloring  which  unites  to  make  the  white 
light  that  must  shine  from  the  sun  of  all  truth. 

Our  discussion  of  ordination  to  the  pastorate  as  a 
means  by  which  the  churches  secure  and  maintain  purity 
in  doctrine  and  life  among  their  pastors,  has  been  com- 
paratively lengthy  on  account  of  the  importance  of  the 
theme.  This  epoch  in  the  life  of  every  pastor  brings 
under  the  review  of  the  church  ordaining  him,  and  of 
the  churches  communing  with  it  in  that  act,  his  fitness 
to  be  regarded  as  a  sound  and  pure  minister  of  Christ. 
It  should  impress  upon  the  pastor  his  responsibility  to 
his  own  church  and  to  all  other  Christian  churches.  It 
should  pledge  his  church,  and  all  churches  in  commun- 
ion for  this  purpose  with  it,  to  a  faithful  and  loving  care 
of  him  in  the  future. 

The  practical  value  and  use  of  this  safeguard  have 
at  present  sunk  very  low  through  wide-spread  neglect 
of  all  formal  ordination.  How  shall  pastoral  ordination 
guard  our  pastors  when  it  comes  to  pass  that  none  of 
them  are  as  pastors  ordained  ?  The  suggestion  of  cer- 
tain remedies  for  this  evil  custom  of  neglecting  ordina- 
tion is,  therefore,  due  to  the  importance  of  our  theme. 

Ministers  must  be  taught  that  the  act  of  induction 
into  office  by  prayer  and  imposition  of  hands  is  neces- 
sary to  an  orderly  holding  of  their  office.     We  cannot 


246  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  vii. 

deny  that  uninstalled  ministers  may  be  called  the  pas- 
tors of  the  churches  to  which  they  preach.  The  mutual 
choice  is  the  necessary  element  to  constitute  a  pastorate. 
But  they  are  not  pastors  orderly  inducted  into  office^  until 
they  are  ordained  to  that  office.  And  upon  the  true 
principle  of  the  identity  of  ordination  and  installation 
a  former  ordination  has  no  effect  to  induct  one  orderly 
into  a  new  office ;  to  this  end  there  must  be  the  ordina- 
tion (installation)  which  is  specifically  for  the  case  in 
hand.  Let  them,  then,  irrespective  of  the  question  of 
permanency,  seek  ordination  at  the  hands  of  their 
church.  Let  them  be  ordained  by  the  leathern  mitten 
of  the  laity  rather  than  not  at  all. 

Churches  must  be  instructed  so  as  to  know  that  they 
are  not  walking  orderly  when  they  do  not  ordain  their 
ministers  with  prayer,  and  imposition  of  hands.  To 
the  end  of  instruction  they  should  be  lovingly  exhorted, 
and  even  rebuked,  by  their  sister-churches  who  are 
walking  in  an  orderly  way.  Pamphlets  and  articles 
explaining  the  right  grounds  of  Congregational  ordina- 
tion should  be  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  delinquent 
churches.  The  refusal  to  ordain  may  even  be  made  a 
ground  for  using  the  third  way  of  communion  with 
a  church,  or  perhaps,  in  the  last  resort,  for  withdrawing 
fellowship  from  it. 

Councils  called  to  advise  regarding  the  ordaining  of 
a  pastor  should  remember  that  their  conduct  will  largely 
determine  the  revival  or  disuse  of  our  New-Testament 
and  time-honored  custom.  Discretion  and  charity  on 
their  part  "will  make  the  custom  tluive :  indiscretion 
and  uncharitableness  will  make  the  custom  more  ob- 
noxious, and,  finally,  perhaps  obsolete. 

Moreover,  the  act  of  ordination  should  be  greatly 
simplified.      It  is  at  present  far  too  formal,  complex, 


LECT.  vn.]         OKDINATION  AS   A  SAFEGUARD.  247 

and  onerous.  The  great  number  of  invited  guests,  the 
notable  preacher  bringing  his  brilliant  special  sermon 
from  a  distant  horizon,^  the  lengthy  and  puzzling  prac- 
tice of  theological  gymnastics,  the  "  fuss  and  the 
feathers,"  are  not  essential  elements  of  Congrega- 
tional ordination.  They  are,  indeed,  weights,  and  not 
wings,  to  our  practice.  The  people  say,  —  and  who 
can  blame  them  ?  —  it  is  too  much  trouble  for  so  brief 
an  arrangement.  All  that  is  necessary  in  any  case  to 
acknowledge  duly  every  principle  involved  is  for  the 
ordaining  church  to  invite  the  two  or  three  churches 
who  are  their  next  neighbors  to  unite  with  them  in 
setting  apart  their  pastor  by  a  prayer  and  the  laying- 
on  of  hands.  And  when  our  churches  can  be  induced 
to  give  heed  to  the  question,  whether  the  men  whom 
they  receive  as  candidates  for  the  pastorate  are  fit  per- 
sons to  preach  the  gospel  to  them  at  all,  and  to  induct 
in  simple  but  thorough  New-Testament  fashion  their 
chosen  pastors  into  their  office,  then  we  shall  be  able 
to  test  the  value  of  ordination  in  securing  and  conserv- 
ing the  purity  of  our  ministry.  For  this  right  practice 
as  a  safeguard  to  the  purity  of  the  ministry,  there  is 
no  substitute  known  to  our  church  order.  Our  first 
concern,  therefore,  should  be  to  secure  ordination  as  a 
universal  and  obligatory  rather  than  an  occasional  and 
adventitious  custom.  And  to  accomplish  tliis  we  must 
strip  it  of  its  accumulated  embarrassments,  and  faith- 
fully commend  it,  in  its  naked  purity,  to  the  favor  of 
the  churches. 

The  second  epoch  at  which  the  care  of  the  local 
church  over  its  own  pastor,  and  the  watch  of  the  fel- 

1  There  was  at  first  no  sermon  preached  at  ordination;  afterward 
the  minister  ordained  usually  preached.  For  instances  of  this  custom, 
see  Congregational  Dictionary,  p.  291,  and  compare  Massachusetts  His 
torical  Society  Collection,  series  I.  vol.  ix.  p.  12,  note. 


248  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  vn. 

lowship  of  churches,  must  be  in  a  formal  way  evoked 
to  keep  a  pure  ministry,  occurs  whenever  any  minister 
becomes  obviously  impure  in  morals,  or  unsound  in 
faith.  We  speak  now  only  of  such  watch  and  care  as 
can  be  rendered  by  the  churches,  through  their  pastors 
or  lay  delegates,  to  the  ministry  at  large.  For  this 
the  most  important  means  is  the  faithful  dealing  of  the 
local  church  with  its  own  pastor.  If  Christian  teachers 
know  that  their  churches  are  intelligent,  conscientious, 
alert  with  regard  to  the  doctrine  they  hear,  and  modest, 
unselfish,  scrupulous,  as  to  the  moral  character  of  him 
who  indoctrinates  them,  the  purity  in  faith  and  life  of 
these  teachers  will  be  greatly  increased  by  such  knowl- 
edge. No  amount  or  kind  of  ecclesiastical  machinery 
can  keep  the  ministry  pure,  can  even  be  shown  to  tend 
to  keep  it  pure,  if  those  covenanted  together  in  the 
local  church  care  more  for  the  pew-rentals  than  for  the 
purity  of  their  own  pastors.  The  disposition  toward 
unscrupulous  use  of  any  means  requisite  to  attain  a 
semblance  of  success  is  at  present  manifest  in  the 
churches  no  less  surely  than  in  business  and  in  politics. 
No  medicating  will  cure  this  disposition :  while  it  en- 
dures it  will  evade  the  power  of  drugs.  But  it  may 
be  eradicated  by  the  concurrent  exercise  of  all  the 
powers  of  all  the  righteous.  Let,  then,  every  pastor 
remember  that  his  highest  responsibility,  next  to  God, 
is  to  the  people  of  his  charge,  both  for  the  doctrine 
he  teaches  them,  and  for  the  life  he  leads  before  them. 
Since  Paul  could  warn  all  Christians  not  to  follow  him 
astray,  and  could  submit  his  teaching  to  that  testing 
which  an  inspired  church  may  make  of  even  apostolic 
words,  by  comparing  them  with  the  mind  of  Christ, 
no  Congregational  pastor  need  feel  dignity  or  pride 
offended,  if  his  people  constantly  test  him  as  the  apos- 


LECT.  vii.]        FELLOWSHIP   AS   A   SAFEGUARD.  249 

tie  wished  always  to  be  tested.  And  should  it  become 
obvious  to  any  church  that  their  pastor  has  essentially 
departed  from  sound  faith  or  upright  living,  they  are 
in  no  small  degree  criminal,  if  they  do  not  faithfully 
and  lovingly  deal  with  him  in  the  appointed  way. 
Moreover,  if  the  departure  is  as  yet  only  alleged,  and 
not  to  their  minds  obvious,  they  still  owe  it  to  them- 
selves, their  j)astor,  their  sister-churches,  and  the  cause 
of  Christ,  to  take  due  notice  of  what  is  notable,  and 
matter  of  common  report. 

The  community  of  churches  also  has  means  of  acting 
upon  each  Congregational  pastor,  whenever  this  epoch 
of  obvious  departure  from  sound  teaching  or  pure 
morals  shall  have  occurred.  Every  one  of  the  six  ways 
of  communion  laid  down  by  the  Cambridge  Platform  ^ 
may  suggest  and  furnish  such  means.  One  principle, 
however,  viz.,  that  of  the  autonomy  of  the  local  church, 
must  invariably  be  respected  in  the  use  of  all  these 
means.  Other  churches  can  deal  with  the  minister  of 
a  particular  visible  church,  as  a  pastor,  only  through  the 
church  of  which  he  is  the  pastor.  The  first  way  of  the 
communion  of  churches  is  always  in  place  :  this  is  "  by 
way  of  mutual  care,  in  taking  thought  for  one  another's 
welfare."  The  consistent  and  habitual  use  of  this  way 
by  neighbor  churches  would  make  comparatively  easy 
the  use  of  more  definite  means  in  the  epoch  under  our 
consideration.  In  case  the  church  troubled  with  a 
notably  unsound  or  impure  minister  ask  "  the  judgment 
and  counsel  of  other  churches,"  such  help  as  is  asked 
should  be  faithfully  and  lovingly  rendered :  this  is  the 
second  way  of  communion.  But  in  case  they  do  not 
ask,  or,  having  once  asked,  refuse  to  heed  the  sound 
advice  given,  the  third  way,  the  "  way  of  admonition," 

1  Chap.  XV.  sect.  2. 


250  PRINCIPLES    OP   CHURCH   POLITY.        [lkct.  vii. 

may  be  evoked.  When  this  way  must  be  employed 
as  means  of  securing  a  pure  ministry,  the  greatest  care 
and  delicacy  are  necessary  to  blend  rightly  the  two 
principles  involved :  these  two  are  the  principle  of  the 
autonomy  of  the  local  church  and  the  principle  of  the 
communion  of  churches ;  for  in  this  way  of  communion 
these  principles  often  seem  to  be  mutually  exclusive 
and  contradictory.  The  attention  of  the  neglecting 
church  should,  first  of  all,  be  more  carefully  and  ten- 
derly called  to  the  apparent  neglect.  If  neglect  of 
attention  be  followed  by  explicit  or  virtual  refusal  of 
attention,  admonition  may  issue  as  the  next  act.  Con- 
tinued neglect  or  refusal  may  compel  the  subsequent 
steps,  which,  following  closely  the  path  laid  down  by 
Christ  for  the  discipline  of  an  offending  member,  may 
at  last  terminate  in  the  united  and  deliberate  act  of  a 
council  of  neighboring  churches,  declaring  the  offending 
church  "to  be  obstinate."  Lastly  follows  the  declara- 
tion of  "the  sentence  of  non-communion"  from  the 
"  particular  churches  approving  and  accepting  the  judg- 
ment "  of  the  council.  Thereafter  the  churches  which 
have  withdrawn  fellowship  cease  to  hold  communion 
as  churches  with  the  offending  church  in  any  of  the 
more  formal  ways  of  communion.  They  do  not  consult 
with  it  in  union  meetings,  or  in  common  councils  or 
synods  ;  they  no  longer  give  and  receive  admonition  for 
subsequent  faults;  they  do  not  receive  its  pastor  into 
their  pulpits  as  a  Christian  minister,  or  its  members 
into  their  churches  by  letter  from  it ;  they  do  not  dis- 
miss their  members  by  letter  to  it,  or  suffer  their  pastors 
to  enter  its  pulpit.  This  consummation  of  the  extreme 
act  possible  under  the  principle  of  the  communion  of 
churches  is,  indeed,  not  a  consummation  devoutly  to  be 
wished,  except  in  extreme  cases.     It  is  the  last  resort 


LECT.  VII.]      TREATMENT   OF   FALSE   TEACHERS.  251 

possible  to  express  the  disapprobation  of  Christ's  people 
for  the  false  teacher  and  for  the  congregation  who  cher- 
ish and  consent  unto  him. 

The  question  may,  however,  be  pressed,  Is  there  no 
less  onerous  and  roundabout  fashion  of  reaching  dere- 
lict ministers,  possible  to  our  church  order?  In  reply, 
you  will  please  notice  that  I  have  constantly  made  a 
distinction  between  the  minister  as  such,  and  the  pastor 
or  chosen  officer  of  the  local  church.  The  distinction, 
whether  or  not  it  be  theoretically  valid,  we  must  in 
practice  admit.  As  to  any  special  means  indirectly  em- 
ployed by  the  churches,  and  effective  through  associa- 
tions, conventions,  consociations,  or  other  standing  forms 
of  union  among  ordained  and  unordained  members  of 
local  churches,  we  shall  speak  briefl}'  at  another  time. 
The  purity  of  the  pastors  of  our  churches,  of  the  men 
who  are  statedly  teaching  those  churches,  is  to  be  se- 
cured and  conserved,  so  far  as  it  is  directly  committed 
to  the  local  church,  or  to  the  fellowship  of  churches,  in 
the  ways  indicated  above.  The  discipline  which  these 
various  bodies  exercise  over  the  ministers  within  them 
is  only  indirect  means  of  reaching  the  same  ministers 
as  pastors.  If,  however,  any  church  persist  in  hearing 
as  their  teacher  a  man  found  unworthy  by  any  of  these 
ecclesiastical  bodies  of  which  this  man  may  happen  to 
be  a  member,  such  church  may  be  admonished  for  the 
offence.  In  order,  however,  to  make  this  course  practi- 
cally effective,  we  must  recognize  those  who  have  been 
chosen  by  the  churches  to  teach,  and  to  administer 
the  sacraments,  for  no  matter  how  brief  time  chosen, 
and  whether  installed  or  not,  as  the  pastors  of  those 
churches. 

If  the  further  question  be  asked.  What  shall  be  done 
for  the  ministerial  purity  of  notably  impure  and  hereti- 


252  PBINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  vn. 

cal  men  who  are  neither  pastors  of  churches  nor  acknowl- 
edged members  of  any  ministerial  body?  the  question 
itself  must  be  declared  to  be  on  the  very  verge  of  ab- 
surdity. The  churches  that  wittingly  hear  them  may 
be  admonished,  so  that  these  blind  leaders  shall  not  be 
leaders  of  the  blind.  But,  as  for  the  men  themselves, 
the  purity  of  the  ministry  is  best  preserved  by  letting 
them  alone,  that  alone  they  may  fall  into  their  ditch. 
From  this  ditch  the  memory  of  a  former  ordination  will 
not  preserve  them  ;  and,  when  they  are  once  consciously 
there,  a  helping  hand  may  best  be  extended  to  them  for 
the  restoration,  not^  in  any  case,  of  their  ministerial  stand- 
ing, but  of  their  characters,  and  for  the  saving  of  their 
souls. 


LECTURE    VIII. 

THE   PRINCIPLE  OF   THE   COMMTJNTOJST   OF   CHURCHES. 

The  application  of  the  principle  of  the  communion 
of  churches  has  given  rise  to  more  heated  debate,  and 
has  been  the  occasion  of  more  division  and  strife,  than 
that  of  any  other  principle  belonging  to  church  polity. 
Congregationalists  have  been  more  divided,  both  in 
theory  and  in  action,  by  determining  how  they  shall 
best  be  united,  than  in  any  other  way.  Such  division 
appears  the  more  remarkable  when  we  consider  for  a 
moment  the  very  obvious  truth,  that  the  entire  basis  of 
this  principle  lies  in  the  great  and  celestial  fact  of  Chris- 
tian brotherly  love.  The  communion  of  churches  has 
no  real  meaning  to  thought,  and  no  valid  claim  upon 
consideration  or  conduct,  except  in  so  far  as  we  regard 
this  communion  in  the  light  of  charity.  The  commun- 
ion of  churches  is  the  expression  of  that  love  toward 
one  another  which  belongs  to  all  true  followers  of 
Christ.  That  Christian  men  should  be  separated  most 
widely  by  the  very  effort  to  unite  Christian  churches, 
is,  indeed,  a  most  remarkable  fact.  But  this  fact  is  by 
no  means  peculiar  to  the  v^^orking  of  any  one  church 
order.  The  effort  at  union  has  divided  believers  in  all 
ages  of  the  church. 

Within  our  own  churches,  and  especially  in  the  body 
of  our  ministry,  there  has  been  a  marked  difference  of 

253 


254  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.       [lect.  vnr. 

opinion,  and  at  times  a  notable  discord,  as  to  the  wisest 
and  most  effective  ways  of  applying  this  distinctive  prin- 
ciple. The  principle  is  distinctive  with  Congregational- 
ists,  not  in  itself,  but  rather  in  its  adjustment  to  other 
distinctive  principles.  And  in  this  fact  we  mtiy  find 
one  reason  for  the  difficulties  which  encompass  its  ap- 
plication. For  just  as  all  theologians  are  always  to  be 
divided  into  two  classes,  the  first  of  which  is  called,  by 
itself  and  by  its  opponents,  Calvin ists,  and  the  second 
of  which  is  called,  chiefly  by  its  opponents,  Arminians, 
so  are  all  Congregationalists  always  to  be  divided  into 
two  classes,  the  first  of  which  is  called,  by  itself  and 
by  its  opponents,  simply  Congregationalists,  and  the  sec- 
ond of  which  is  called,  chiefly  by  its  opponents,  Inde- 
pendents. The  sharp  contests  and  discordant  conduct  of 
these  two  classes  may  be  traced  through  more  than  two 
hundred  years :  all  this  time  they  have  been  more  or  less 
divided  about  the  right  way  to  be  united.  And  the 
very  nature  of  the  debate,  as  well  as  the  names  which 
have  been  fixed  upon  the  two  parties,  has  shown  that 
the  adjustment  of  the  principle  of  the  autonomy  of  the 
local  church  with  the  principle  of  the  communion  of 
churches  is  the  subject  in  dispute..  The  class  which 
has  emphasized  the  former  principle  has  often  been  ac- 
cused, justly  or  unjustly,  of  Independency :  the  class 
Avhich  has  emphasized  the  latter  principle  has  often  been 
accused,  justly  or  unjustly,  of  Presbyterianizing.  And, 
after  all,  the  difference  has  been  largely  one  of  emphasis. 
This  difference  in  placing  the  emphasis  involves,  how- 
ever, the  possibility  of  a  much  wider  and  a  continuously 
widening  difference.  The  beginning  of  a  schism  is, 
generally,  in  an  excess  of  emphasis  upon  some  one  prin- 
ciple. The  possibility  of  a  "new  denomination"  has 
always  lain,  and  still  lies,  in  this  difference  of  opinion 


LECT.  VIII.]         AUTONOMY   AND   FELLOWSHIP.  255 

as  to  which  of  these  two  principles  needs  at  any  given 
time  tlie  greater  stress  of  attention  and  endeavor.  In- 
deed, we  actually  find  a  somewhat  too  impulsive  writer 
of  the  last  centurj'  ^  venturing  upon  words  such  as  these  : 
"  The  idea  I  have  conceived  of  these  two  denominations 
...  is,  that  they  are  as  different  one  from  the  other 
as  the  system  of  religion  and  policy  by  Moses  was  from 
the  confusion  of  Babel."  As  to  which  of  the  two  he 
considers  like  the  system  of  Moses,  and  which  like  the 
confusion  of  Babel,  our  author  leaves  us  in  no  doubt; 
for  in  another  passage  he  characterizes  the  so-called  In- 
dependents as  the  strange  woman  of  whom  Solomon 
speaks,  "  Her  ways  are  movable  that  thou  canst  not 
know  them." 

We  must,  therefore,  admit  that  the  right  adjustment, 
in  theory  and  in  practice,  of  these  two  seemingly  con- 
flicting principles,  is  a  matter  for  rational  divergence 
of  view.  We  must  also  admit  that  this  adjustment  can 
never  be  once  for  all  made  and  committed  to  tradition 
or  to  paper  in  the  form  of  sets  of  rules  obligatory  for 
the  guidance  of  the  churches  in  all  ages.  The  piety, 
patience,  and  good  sense  of  Christian  men,  are  needed  to 
make  a  perpetual  and  a  perpetually  better  re-adjustment. 
Whatever  difBculty  may  arise  in  such  re-adjustment  is 
one  phase  of  the  world-wide  general  difficulty  in  ad- 
justing the  claims  of  egoism  and  altruism,  the  rights  of 
self-control  and  the  duties  of  self-surrender,  the  auton- 
omy of  local  government  and  due -regard  for  the  more 
general  welfare.  It  must  be  admitted,  moreover,  that, 
since  only  an  abundance  of  high  intelligence  and  broad 
deep  charity  can  prove  efficient  in  the  best  making  of 
such  adjustments,  Congregationalistshave  been  hindered 

1  Author  of  the  tract,  Congregationalism  as  contained  in  the  Scrip- 
tures, etc.    Boston,  1794. 


256  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.       [lect.  viii. 

in  their  work  by  lack  of  these  qualities.  They  have 
not  been  conspicuously  lacking  in  the  possession  of  these 
qualities :  they  have,  perhaps,  not  been  comparatively 
lacking  in  the  display  of  them.  But  they  have  been 
lacking,  as  all  Christians  have  been,  in  the  possession : 
they  have  been,  perhaps,  conspicuously  lacking  in  the 
disposition  to  supply  their  lack.  Moreover,  their  church 
order  requires  for  its  best  work  the  conspicuous  posses- 
sion of  just  these  qualities.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  more 
thought  and  charity  bestowed  upon  the  continuous  de- 
velopment, in  its  application,  of  the  principle  of  the 
communion  of  churches,  will  in  time  secure  for  us  a 
more  potent  unity.  It  is  in  tliis  hope,  and  speaking 
the  truth  in  love,  that  the  thoughts  of  the  following 
two  Lectures  on  the  Communion  of  Congregational 
Churches  are  offered  to  your  attention. 

In  order  to  make  a  trustworthy  survey  we  must  first 
of  all  orientate  ourselves ;  and  these  two  stakes  will  serve 
our  purpose.  We  start  from  the  point  of  view  furnished 
by  that  divine,  self-sacrificing  love,  which,  having  come 
from  the  heart  of  God,  and  having  been  made  manifest 
in  the  person  and  work  of  our  Lord,  establishes  itself 
in  the  hearts  of  his  followers.  As  has  been  already 
declared,  Christian  communion  must  grow  out  of  Chris- 
tian charity.  The  external  communication  of  thought 
and  will  is  from  the  inner  unity  of  spirit.  The  inter- 
course of  the  churches  of  Christ  can  never  be  more, 
and  ought  never  to  be  less,  than  a  faithful  and  wise 
expression  of  fellowship  of  soul.  No  act,  then,  has 
any  place  between  churches  which  is  not  intended  and 
adapted  to  express  brotherly  love.  Every  act  between 
churches,  necessary  to  express  brotherly  love,  is  a  valid 
communion  of  churches.  By  these  apparently  sweep- 
ing statements  we  may  test  the  six  so-called  ways  of 


LECT.  vin,]     FELLOWSHIP  IMPLLES  LOVE  AND  TRUTH.    257 

communion  provided  by  the  Cambridge  Platform  :  we 
shall  find  each  one  of  these  six  ways  amply  sustaining 
the  test.  In  this  manner,  also,  may  we  test  all  those 
various  unsuccessful  and  damaging  efforts  to  apply 
this  principle  which  have  been  made  in  the  history  of 
our  churches :  we  shall  find  their  ill  success  and  dama- 
ging effect  due  to  this,  that  they  were  not  genuine  and 
wise  expressions  of  Christian  brotherly  love.  The  in- 
terchange of  members  and  ministers,  the  supply  of  the 
needs  of  a  poorer  by  a  wealthier  church,  the  sending 
of  letters  and  messengers,  the  fraternal  conferences  in 
formal  synods  and  councils  and  in  the  more  informal 
fellowship-meetings,  are  ways  of  the  communion  of 
churches  ;  but  these  are  all  means  of  expressing  charity. 
Advice  should  never  be  asked  or  given  between  sister- 
churches,  except  as  an  expression  of  unfeigned  brotherly 
confidence  and  love.  Even  admonition,  and,  in  the  last 
resort,  that  act  which  severs  the  semblance  of  a  connec- 
tion known  no  longer  to  be  real,  are  acts  of  Christian 
charity:  otherwise  they  have  no  place  amongst  j)ro- 
fessed  Christians.  To  speak  of  the  fellowship  or 
communion  of  churches  otherwise  than  as  a  means  of 
manifesting  the  love  of  Christian  brethren  for  each 
other  and  for  all  of  Christ's  people  is  to  utter  a  mani- 
fest absurdity.  To  enter  into  any  act  of  so-called  com- 
munion without  being  moved  by  love  is  to  enter  upon 
an  unchristian  act :  the  entrance  is  likely  to  lead  to  an 
outrage  of  rights  and  to  a  disgrace  of  the  Christian 
name.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  to  refuse  to  undertake 
any  necessary  act  of  communion,  even  though  it  be 
the  admonishing  or  disfellowshipping  of  a  church,  if  it 
be  a  genuine  and  wise  expression  of  brotherly  love,  is  to 
refuse  the  obligation  of  that  love.  The  spirit  of  indif- 
ference and  the  spirit  of  quarrelsomeness,  the  spirit  of 


258  PEESTCrPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.       [lect.  vni. 

self-assertion  and  the  spirit  of  indulgence,  are  all  alike 
out  of  place  in  the  communion  of  churches. 

Starting  from  the  pomt  of  view  where  charity  remains 
immovably  fixed,  we  move  along  the  line  of  reality. 
The  communion  of  churches  should  grow  out  of  char- 
ity ;  but  it  should  also  always  correspond  to  the  facts. 
We  are  obligated  to  use  the  ways  of  communion  just 
so  far  as  we  have  real  communion.  We  really  have 
Christian  brotherly  love  toward  all  who  have  received 
Christ  in  faith.  We  are,  then,  obligated  to  manifest 
that  love  in  acts  of  communion  with  all  such.  But  the 
form  of  the  manifestation  must  be  determined  by  the 
reality  which  is  to  be  expressed  in  the  form.  We  are  to 
love  all  true  believers  in  the  Roman-Catholic  Church: 
we  are,  therefore,  to  have  with  them  such  acts  of  com- 
munion as  correspond  to  the  real  communion  of  our 
hearts.  We  cannot  commune  with  them  in  receiving 
and  dismissing  members,  because  the  basis  for  such  com- 
munion does  not  exist.  For,  according  to  a  New-Tes- 
tament principle,  we  must  receive  as  members  only 
those  who  give  to  the  church  receiving  them  credible 
evidence  of  true  penitence  and  faith  toward  Christ. 
We  cannot  commune  with  them  in  interchange  of  min- 
isters, because  there  is  no  basis  in  reality  for  such  an 
act  of  communion.  They  must  in  conscience  have  a 
priest  to  administer  the  sacraments :  we  cannot  in  con- 
science acknowledge  the  priestly  ofBce  in  receiving  the 
sacraments.  Witli  the  so-called  Evangelical  denomina- 
tions we  can  have  more  acts  of  church  communion  than 
with  even  our  holiest  brethren  in  the  Roman-Catholic 
Church,  because  there  is  a  real  basis  for  more  such  acts. 
But  it  is  only  with  Congregational  churches  that  we 
can  commune  in  certain  ways,  as,  for  instance,  the  for- 
mal admonition,  the  act  of  deposing  a  minister,  or  of 


LECT.  vni.]  NATUKE  OF   SCHISM.  259 

disfellowsliipping  a  cliurcli,  because  only  witli  such 
churches  would  these  acts  of  communion  have  any  basis 
in  reality. 

Physiology  is  studied  in  these  days  largely  through 
the  phenomena  of  disease.  Thus  may  the  nature  of 
true  communion  of  churches  be  made  more  obvious  by  a 
consideration  of  the  nature  of  schism.  Schism  has  been 
designated  "  a  sin  against  charity"  as  heresy  is  a  sin 
against  faith.  That  schism  is  not  prevented,  but  rather 
fostered,  by  all  attempts  at  compelling  men  to  uniform- 
ity of  creed,  or  worship,  or  government,  when  they  are 
not  inwardly  impelled  to  a  real  unity  in  these  matters, 
should  by  this  age  of  the  world  be  made  clear  from  his- 
tory. "  On  supposition  that  the  Church  of  Rome  is  a 
church  of  Christ,"  says  the  celebrated  John  Owen,^  "it 
will  appear  to  be  the  most  schismatical  church  in  the 
world."  The  view  taken  of  this  subject  in  the  treatise 
of  this  author  entitled  "  Of  Schism  "  is,  on  the  whole,  as 
it  seems  to  me,  quite  defective,  and  yet  contains  many 
most  profound  suggestions  for  a  complete  view.  The 
very  heart  of  the  subject  appears  to  be  reached  in  these 
words  of  Owen :  ^  "  Let,  then,  the  general  demand  be 
granted,  that  schism  is  duaQSGig  rijg  tvorr^rog,  '  the  breach 
of  union,'  which  I  shall  attend  with  one  reasonable 
postulatwn,  namely,  that  this  union  be  a  union  of  the 
appointment  of  Jesus  Christ."  If  schism  is  a  rending, 
the  nature  of  the  rending  is  to  be  determined  by  the 
nature  of  the  thing  rent.  The  thing  rent  in  the  case 
of  any  schism  is  the  manifested  unity  of  the  Church  of 
Christ.  Our  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  church 
and  of  the  forms  in  which  its  manifested  unity  should 
express  itself,  must,  therefore,  determine  our  conception 
of  schism.     If,  however,  we  admit  the  proposition  of 

1  "Works,  xiii.  p.  114.  2  ibid.,  p.  123. 


260  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.       [lect.  vni. 

Owen,  that  "  the  Church  of  Christ  living  in  this  world  " 
has  three  meanings  in  Scripture,  viz.,  "  the  church  cath- 
olic militant,"  or  mystical  body  of  Christ,  the  "  church 
catholic  visible,"  and  "  a  particular  church,"  we  shall 
even  then  be  obliged  to  depart  somewhat  from  his  view 
in  carrying  out  our  argument ;  for  with  the  mj^stical 
body  of  Christ  the  schisms  in  the  churches  and  of  the 
churches  have  really  nothing  to  do.  Its  unity  has  no 
breach  made  in  it  by  the  assaults  of  selfish  ecclesiasti- 
cism,  or  sectarian  zeal.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  within 
the  "  church  catholic  visible  "  that  the  sorest  and  most 
destructive  wounds  of  schism  are  made.  Divisions  and 
rendings  of  the  manifested  unity  of  the  one  catholic 
church  are  schismatic,  as  well  as  breaches  of  the  union 
of  a  particular  church.  The  union  of  his  followers  for 
which  Jesus  prayed,  in  order  that  the  world  might  be 
convinced  of  his  divine  mission,  is  a  manifested  unity. 
And  if  the  Roman-Catholic  Church  can  show  that  the 
form  which  it  attempts  to  give  to  this  manifestation 
of  unity  is  according  to  the  appointments  of  Jesus 
Christ,  then  to  withdraw  from  that  church  is  indeed  an 
unpardonable  schism.  But,  in  whatever  sense  we  use 
the  word  "  church,*'  we  have  to  consider,  as  Owen  points 
out,  both  the  '•'•formalis  ratio  "  of  its  union  (that  which 
makes  the  union  what  it  is),  "  and  the  way  and  means 
whereby  it  exerts  itself,  and  is  useful  and  active  in  com- 
munion." We  are  obligated  as  individual  Christians 
and  as  Christian  churches  to  seek  for  a  manifested  unity 
for  the  entire  body  of  Christ's  disciples :  the  means  of 
manifestation  must,  however,  not  contradict,  even  if  it 
do  not  directly  represent,  any  appointments  of  Christ. 
To  oppose  in  any  manner  or  degree  the  manifestation 
of  the  unity  of  the  one  catholic  church,  if  only  the  mode 
of  manifestation  can  be  seen  to  be  in  accord  with  the 


LECT  VIII.]  NATURE   OF   SCHISM.  261 

commands  of  Him  in  whom  the  whole  church  is  united, 
must  be  regarded  as  active  schism  :  even  to  fail  in  this 
manifestation  is  of  the  nature  of  a  sin  of  omission ;  and 
the  sin  committed  in  the  omission  is  closely  allied  to  the 
sin  of  schism. 

We  conclude,  then,  that  the  communion  of  churches 
is  but  the  fit  expression  of  that  Christian  brotherly  love 
in  which  all  believers  are  united,  and  that  the  law  of  the 
means  and  extent  of  this  communion  requires  that  the 
manifestation  shall  correspond  to  a  reality,  that  the  acts 
of  communion  shall  always  arise  from  a  basis  in  facts  of 
affection.  The  opposite  of  the  communion  of  churches 
is  an  appearance  of  schism.  Schism  is  that  breach  of 
the  union  of  the  Church  in  Christ  which  is  made  by 
opposing  or  neglecting  any  form  of  manifesting  such 
union,  provided  that  form  accords  with  the  appoint- 
ment of  Christ.  From  our  point  of  view,  therefore, 
that  church  is  most  schismatical  which  most  hinders 
the  manifestation  of  a  complete  unity  in  Christ.  And 
since  nothing  else  so  hinders  such  a  manifestation  as 
the  attempt  to  compel  men  to  subscription  to  one 
creed,  or  to  adherence  to  one  form  of  worship,  or  to 
allegiance  to  some  human  authority  of  ecclesiasticism, 
the  individuals  and  churches  that  most  affect  and 
attempt  these  things  are  of  all  most  schismatical. 
An  enforced  formalism  in  the  relations  of  Christian 
churches  is  not  communion  of  churches ;  it  is  rather 
of  the  nature  of  schism ;  it  is  the  chief  provoker  and 
producer  of  actual  schisms. 

The  faithful  use  of  the  formal  principle  of  the  true 
church  polity  yields  many  ideas,  impressions,  and  gen- 
eral maxims,  for  the  right  practice  of  communion  of 
churches :  it  does  not,  however,  give  us  set  formulas  or 
detailed  instructions.     For  such  formulas  and  instruc- 


262  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.       [lect.  vin. 

tions  we  must  rely  largely  upon  the  common-law  prin- 
ciple ;  that  is,  we  must  use  such  means  of  expressing 
our  charity  toward  all  churches  of  Christ  as  the  cus- 
tom of  our  church  order  has  provided.  We  may  do 
this,  although  we  do  not  find  the  means  formally  com- 
mended in  Scripture,  unless,  indeed,  we  do  find  any 
customary  means  contrary  to  some  appointment  of 
Christ.  Under  the  principle  of  progress,  and  seeking 
the  enlightenment  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  Congregational 
churches  may  institute  new  means  of  manifesting  the 
unity  of  all  saints  in  Christ.  Indeed,  to  alertness  in 
contriving,  and  diligence  in  using,  such  means,  they  are 
pledged  by  the  word  of  the  Master :  that  word  com- 
mands the  manifestation  in  all  ways  of  a  real  unity  in 
Him.  Christians  are  bidden  in  Scripture  not  only  to 
love  one  another,  but  also  to  show  forth  that  love  in 
edifying  one  another,  in  instructing,  exhorting,  rebuk- 
ing, admonishing,  and  provoking  to  good  works :  they 
are  to  administer  the  full  benefits  of  the  gospel  in  all 
ways  one  to  another.  "  He  that  hath  taken  a  bath 
needeth  not  save  to  wash  his  feet,"  and  "ye  ought  to 
wash  one  another's  feet,"  are  words  of  Jesus  which 
appoint  to  his  followers  the  task  of  a  mutual  moral 
purifying.  The  task  is  certainly  not  one  of  merely  geo- 
graphical limitations,  but  of  fitness  of  means  to  ends 
in  love.  Churches  are  bound  to  wash  the  feet  of  one 
another  as  truly  as  are  individual  Christians. 

Examples  of  the  communion  of  churches  are  by  no 
means  wanting  in  the  New  Testament:  the  collection 
in  the  richer  churches  for  the  poor  of  a  sister-church, 
the  salutations  passing  from  church  to  church,  the  con- 
stant interchange  of  members  between  churches,  and 
the  sendings  of  letters  and  messengers  from  one  church 
to   another   are   examples   of    such   communion.     The 


LECT.  viii.]     COMMUNION   OF   APOSTOLIC   CHURCHES. 


263 


apostles  and  their  helpers  were  peripatetic  girders  into 
oneness  of  the  building  which  their  hands  were  busy 
in  erecting.  They  joined  in  bonds  of  communion  the 
churches  which  they  founded. 

The  narrative  of  these  churches  closes  at  too  early  a 
date  to  exhibit  any  perfected  system  of  means  for  the 
communion  of  churches,  or  even  to  disclose  many  ex- 
amples of  such  communion  in  its  more  formal  and  rarer 
forms.  We  find  all  the  believers  in  a  given  city  re- 
maining together  in  one  body,  and  doubtless  under  one 
college  of  presbyter-bishops ;  and  this  even  after  they 
had  grown  far  too  numerous  to  admit  of  their  conven- 
ient assembling  in  one  place,  at  one  time,  for  worship. 
In  this  respect  we  find  them  not  walking  orderly  after 
the  Cambridge  Platform.  The  question  as  to  which 
shall  be  followed,  the  example  of  the  Apostolic  Churches, 
or  the  law  of  the  Platform,  we  will  not  now  discuss. 
Traces  of  the  crystallizing  into  concrete  custom  of  their 
fluid  life  may  be  seen  in  the  ordination  of  Paul  and 
Barnabas  for  their  missionary  work  by  one  church,  and 
in  the  ordination  of  Tunothy  by  another  church  acting 
conjointly  with  Paul,  and  possibly,  also,  with  the  elders 
of  neighboring  churches. 

The  most  noteworthy  example  of  the  more  formal 
means  employed  for  this  communion  of  churches  occurs 
in  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  Acts.  When  controversy 
and  debate  arose  in  Antioch,  the  church  there  sent  cer- 
tain ones  chosen  from  its  own  number,  in  company 
with  Paul  and  Barnabas,  to  Jerusalem,  unto  the  apos- 
tles and  presbyters,  concerning  this  matter  of  debate. 
But,  when  the  answer  went  forth  in  the  name  of  the 
apostles  and  the  college  of  presbyters  and  the  breth- 
ren, it  was  not  directed  to  the  inquiring  church  alone : 
it  was  directed  to  the  brethren  in  Syria  and  CiUcia  as 


264  PRINCIPLES   OF  CHURCH  POLITY.       [lect.  vin, 

well.  Tlie  church  at  Antioch  had,  however,  been  alone 
in  asking  the  questions  treated  in  tliis  epistolary  an- 
swer. Here,  certainly,  was  an  unsolicited  attempt,  on 
the  part  of  the  officers  and  brethren  of  the  church  at 
Jerusalem,  to  hold  communion  by  way  of  advice  with 
several  quite  remote  churches.  Indeed,  although  the 
address  of  the  letter  limited  it  to  Syria  and  Cilicia,  the 
intention  seems  to  have  been  to  recommend  its  meas- 
ures, with  the  conceded  authority  of  the  apostles  and 
the  officers  of  the  mother-church,  to  all  Gentile  Chris- 
tians.^ We  do  not  discover,  however,  that  any  of  the 
churches  received  obstreperously  this  unsolicited  advice. 
On  the  contrary,  we  are  told  that  the  congregation  at 
Antioch,  when  it  read  this  letter  from  Jerusalem,  re- 
joiced over  the  edifying  exhortation. ^  And  when  Paul 
and  Silas,  traversing  Iconium,  delivered  by  word  of 
mouth  to  the  churches  of  these  regions  the  ordinances 
of  the  apostles  and  elders  at  Jerusalem,  we  are  also 
told,  these  churches,  therefore,  were  strengthened  in 
the  faith,  and  increased  in  numbers. 

The  manifestation  of  that  unity  in  love  for  which  the 
means  appointed  by  our  church  order  should  provide 
includes  the  administering  of  reproof,  unsolicited  advice 
and  admonition,  the  attempt  at  a  moral  and  doctrinal 
purifying  of  the  Church.  These  means  of  communion 
undoubtedly  require  much  more  of  fraternal  love  for 
their  successful  employment  than  those  which  are  of 
much  pleasanter  features.  They  undoubtedly  should 
be  used  with  comparative  rareness. 

1  See  Meyer  on  this  passage.  Says  De  Wette,  *'  So  scheint  es  aller- 
dings  Vorstellung  der  AG.  zu  sein,  dass  der  Brief  nur  diedurch  die 
Adresse  der  vorlieg.  St.  beschrankte,  seine  Festsetzimg  dagegen  allge- 
meinere  Bestimmung  batten." 

2  67ri  T^  Trapa/cA^o-et;  Grimm  and  Meyer  translate  as  above  (erweckliche 
zuspracbe) ;  but  De  "Wette  and  most  of  the  older  commentators  trans- 
late, consolation. 


LECT.  VIII.]     FELLOWSHIP   ORGANIZING   CHURCHES.        265 

Having  stated  certain  fundamental  truths  which  are 
common  to  all  applications  ot"  the  principle  of  the  com- 
munion of  churches,  we  will  now  consider  some  of  its 
particular  applications. 

This  principle  should  be  applied  in  the  instituting  of 
Congregational  churches.  A  Congregational  church 
begins  to  exist  as  one  of  a  sisterhood  of  churches 
already  existing:  by  the  very  principles  in  accord- 
ance with  which  it  is  instituted,  it  is  obligated,  from 
its  inception,  to  hold  the  utmost  of  communion  fit 
to  be  held  with  all  churches  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  the 
simple  fact  that  it  is  a  Congregational  church  furnishes 
a  basis  in  reality  for  a  special  manifestation  of  its  unity 
with  all  so-called  Congregational  churches.  The  act  of 
communion  fitted  to  its  institution  is  such  that  it  should, 
from  the  beginning,  be  acknowledged  by  others  as  one 
of  a  sisterhood,  as  a  particular  visible  church  set  in  the 
world  in  the  midst  of  other  similar  bodies  of  disciples. 
It  should  at  once  crave  the  hand  of  fellowship:  the 
hand  of  fellowship  should  from  the  beginning  be  ex- 
tended to  it.  The  form  of  holding  communion  at  the 
organizing  of  a  church,  which  is  now  in  general  use,  is, 
that  a  body  of  believers,  wishing  to  form  themselves 
into  a  distinct  church,  shall  call  a  council  of  neighbor- 
ing churches  to  advise  them  with  reference  to  their 
intended  act,  and,  if  the  advice  be  favorable,  to  extend 
to  them,  as  then  and  there  formed  on  the  basis  of  that 
advice,  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  It  is,  however, 
perfectly  competent  for  any  body  of  believers  in  Christ 
to  form  themselves  into  a  church,  and  then  to  seek  the 
recognition  of  communion  by  asking  for  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship  in  ordaining  their  officers,  or  in  some  sub- 
sequent act  of  common  interest  to  all  neighboring  sister- 
churches.     Simply  in  the  spontaneous  exercise  of  this 


266  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.       [lect.  vni. 

their  inalienable  right  of  self-organization,  and  in  the 
faithful  discharge  of  their  undying  obligation  as  Chris- 
tians to  covenant  with  one  another,  many  of  our  earliest 
and  purest  churches  were  founded.  This  self-consti- 
tuting power  of  the  local  church  is  a  principle  of  church 
polity,  and  must  never  be  disparaged  or  denied.  Its 
denial  is  a  fundamental  reversal  of  the  whole  doctrine 
of  Congregationalism.  But  principle  also  compels  every 
newly  constituted  church  to  seek  fraternal  recognition 
from  other  churches.  There  is  no  objection  in  theory 
to  the  blending  in  one  act  of  these  two  principles,  and 
to  the  self-constituting  of  the  local  church  in  use  of  such 
advice  as  secures  to  it  from  its  beginning  the  recognition 
desired.  On  the  contrary,  this  way  of  instituting  a  Con- 
gregational church  should  now  be  generally  adopted. 

Indeed,  there  is  now  a  special  reason  why  the  advice 
of  neighboring  churches  should  be  taken  at  the  very 
inception  of  every  such  institution,  —  a  reason  which 
did  not  prevail  in  the  earlier  circumstances  of  our 
churches.  In  almost  all  circumstances  of  the  present 
day  the  very  question  whether  a  church  shall  be  formed 
at  all  needs  advice  from  unprejudiced  sources.  That 
a  number  of  believers  in  Christ,  although  the  number 
be  very  small,  when  living  remote  from  all  actually 
existing  and  operative  churches,  should  enter  into 
covenant  with  one  another,  our  principles  do  not  leave 
us  in  doubt ;  but,  where  other  churches  of  Christ  are 
within  tolerably  convenient  distances  of  a  number  of 
believers  who  are  intent  upon  instituting  a  new  church, 
the  question  whether  they  may  reasonably  decline  to 
join  themselves  with  the  churches  already  existing 
is  the  first  important  question.  The  settlement  of  it 
stands  before  the  very  threshold  of  the  new  establish- 
ment.    Moreover,  such  a  question  is  in  these  days  gen- 


LECT.  vm.]     FELLOWSHIP  ORGANIZING   CHURCHES.        267 

erally  made  the  more  embarrassing  for  the  would-be 
founders  of  Congregational  churches,  from  the  fact  that 
these  surrounding  churches  are  themselves  in  principles, 
if  not  in  name,  so  largely  Congregational.  No  compul- 
sion from  the  demands  of  a  state  church,  no  barrier 
from  an  untenable  creed,  no  patent  violation  of  the 
rights  and  duties  enjoined  upon  all  believers  by  the 
New  Testament,  usually  prevents  men  in  conscience 
from  uniting  themselves  with  one  of  several  churches 
already  constituted.  The  question,  then,  whether  the 
formation  of  the  proposed  church  shall  be  consummated 
at  all,  is  a  question  which  needs  the  advice  of  neighbor- 
ing churches.  It  is  to  the  honor  of  Congregationalists 
that  they  have,  as  a  rule,  so  carefully  considered  this 
question:  however,  it  may  be  to  their  discredit  that 
they  have  not  been  forward  enough  in  planting  and 
nurturing  upon  virgin  soil  a  larger  crop  of  New-Testa- 
ment churches. 

The  principle  of  the  communion  of  churches  may,  in 
certain  cases,  cause  the  suspension  of  the  right  which 
all  believers  have  to  constitute  themselves  into  a  partic- 
ular visible  church.  No  power,  indeed,  can  dictate  to 
Christian  men  and  women  that  they  shall  not,  after 
prayer  and  consecration,  and  illumining  from  on  high, 
dispose  themselves,  as  seems  to  them  fit,  in  groups  cove- 
nanted to  walk  together  after  the  order  of  the  gospel. 
But  the  refusal  to  receive  advice  concerning  the  for- 
mation of  a  church  may,  although  only  rarely  and  in 
extreme  cases,  justify  the  refusal  of  the  neighboring 
churches  to  hold  full  communion  with  the  church  which 
has  refused  advice.  As  early  as  1636,  the  organization 
of  the  First  Church  of  Dorchester  was  delayed  from 
March  ^  until  the  following  August,  because  Rev.  Rich- 

1  Increase  Mather,  in  his  Life  of  his  father  Richard,  gives  the  date  as 
April  1  (April  10). 


268  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.       [lect.  vni. 

ard  Mather  and  liis  people  were  advised  "by  the  gen- 
eral vote  of  the  churches "  to  postpone  their  contem- 
plated act  of  confederation.^  The  organization  was, 
however,  finally  effected  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  parties. 
The  first  attempt  at  organizing  the  North  Parish  Church 
at  Andover  failed,  and,  as  we  are  told,  "  the  messengers 
of  the  churches  not  being  satisfied,  the  assembly  broke 
up  before  they  had  accomplished  what  they  had  in- 
tended." The  people  of  the  parish  wisely  waited  until 
the  fleeing  messengers  returned  upon  their  course,  and, 
having  "  changed  their  views,"  they  "  conformed  to  the 
prevailing  custom : "  the  church  was  then  duly  organ- 
ized.2  The  correspondence  between  Mr.  Mather  and 
Mr.  Shepard,  who  was  the  chief  opposer  of  the  too  early 
organization  of  the  church  in  Dorchester,  shows  that 
the  advice  of  the  council  was  well  given  and  well  re- 
ceived. "  It  was  a  sad  thing  to  us  to  defer  the  uniting 
of  your  people  together.  .  .  .  Oh,  let  not  a  little  waiting 
be  sad  or  grievous  to  you,"  writes  Mr.  Shepard.  "  As 
for  what  you  spake  that  day,  I  bless  the  Lord  for  it.  .  .  . 
You  have,  by  your  free  and  faithful  dealing  that  day, 
endeared  yourself  in  my  esteem  more  than  ever.  .  .  . 
The  Lord  render  you  a  rich  and  plentiful  reward  for 
your  love  and  faithfulness ! "  writes,  in  response,  Mr. 
Mather.  Surely  the  sight  of  so  much  genuine  Chris- 
tian fidelity  and  charity  is  worth  a  little  patient  wait- 
ing, even  in  a  matter  so  pressing  as  the  founding  of  a 
Christian  church. 

The  application  of  the  principle  of  communion  of 
churches  to  the  instituting  of  a  new  Congregational 
church    is   designed   to    secure   its   institution  upon   a 

1  See  Historical  Sketch,  etc.,  p.  17,  and  Shepard's  Autobiography, 
by  Dr.  Nehemiah  Adams. 

2  Hubbard,  p.  416. 


LECT.  vm.]  BASIS   OF  FELLOWSHIP.  269 

sound  and  durable  foundation.  Tlie  judgment  of  sister- 
churches  is  evoked  not  only  as  to  the  time  and  occasion, 
but  also  as  to  the  manner^  in  which  believers  shall  or- 
ganize themselves  into  church  relations.  As  we  have 
already  seen,  it  is  the  principle  of  a  regenerate  member- 
ship which  chiefly  determines  the  manner  of  this  organi- 
zation. The  council  called  to  organize  a  Congregational 
church  must,  therefore,  first  of  all,  be  satisfied  that  the 
persons  who  desire  to  form  themselves  into  the  church 
are  such,  and  only  such,  as  can  give  credible  evidence  of 
godly  repentance,  and  saving  faith  toward  Christ :  they 
must  also  be  satisfied  that  these  persons,  if  thus  organ- 
ized, are  likely  to  continue  their  organization  upon  this 
the  only  true  and  permanent  foundation.  The  council, 
that  is  to  say,  is  bound  by  the  law  of  its  existence  to  re- 
quii-e  proof  that  the  would-be  founders  of  the  new  church 
are  regenerate  souls,  and  that  they  intend  to  found  a 
church  which  shall  admit  to  its  membership  only  such 
souls  as  shall  give  to  it  proof  of  being  regenerate.  The 
article  which  evinces  this  proof  and  intention  is  the 
Covenant  of  the  church.  To  the  nature  of  the  covenant 
which  it  is  proposed  by  the  first  members  to  make  with 
one  another,  and  to  require  of  all  subsequent  members, 
must  the  attention  of  the  neighboring  churches  be  pri- 
marily and  most  earnestly  directed.  A  body  of  believ- 
ers who  present  a  satisfactory  covenant  as  the  basis  of 
their  church  union  may.be  given,  on  that  basis  alone, 
the  right  hand  of  the  fellowship  of  churches;  but  a 
body  of  alleged  believers  who  present  no  such  basis 
cannot  be  recognized  as  one  of  a  sisterhood  of  Congre- 
gational churches. 

With  this  truth  in  view,  we  must  pronounce  the  con- 
ception and  definition  of  a  Christian  church  which  is 
presented  by  Robert  Hall,  in  his  treatise  "  On  Terms  of 


270  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHTTECH  POLITY.       [lect.  vm. 

Communion,"  ^  much  more  loose  and  unsatisfactory 
than  are  the  accepted  Congregational  conception  and 
definition.  "  A  number  of  Christians  convened  for  the 
worshijD  of  God,"  says  this  author,  "  constitutes  a  Chris- 
tian assembly,  or  a  church."  It  has,  indeed,  been  held 
by  some,  that  the  covenant  of  a  church  may  be,  at  least 
temporarily,  only  an  implied  one.  Still  does  it  remain 
true,  that,  to  refer  again  to  the  language  of  Davenport, 
the  covenant  is  the  "formal  cause"  of  a  particular 
church:  it  is  the  covenant,  voluntary  entering  into 
which  "essentiates  the  church  relation."  "A  Congre- 
gational church,"  says  the  Platform,  "is  .  .  .  united 
into  one  body  by  a  holy  covenant."  ^  And  again  :  ^ 
"  Saints  by  calling  must  have  a  visible  political  union 
among  themselves,  or  else  they  are  not  yet  a  particular 
church ;  "  and  the  form  of  this  political  union,  by  which 
they  are  constituted  into  a  particular  church,  "is  the 
visible  covenant,  agreement,  or  consent,  whereby  they 
give  up  themselves  unto  the  Lord,  to  the  observing  of 
the  ordinances  of  Christ  together;  which  is  usually 
called  the  Church  covenant."  Now,  the  basis  for  the 
recognition  of  any  particular  church  by  its  sister- 
churches  cannot  properly  be  another  basis  than  the  one 
upon  which  it  is  really  constituted  as  a  church  of 
Christ.  The  basis  for  its  existence  as  a  church  is  the 
basis  of  its  communion  with  others. 

It  is  true  theory,  then,  and  sound  practice  as  well, 
that  the  particular  visible  church  need  not,  at  its  institu- 
tion, make  any  further  formulated  statement  of  its  faith 
than  that  which  is  involved  and  necessarily  expressed 
in  its  covenant.  It  must  have  a  confession  of  faith  ;  but 
it  need  not  have  a  declaration  of  dogmatic  belief.  In 
other  words,  it  is  the  covenant,  and  not  the  creed,  of  a 
^  See  Works,  vol.  i.  p.  75.    ^  Chap.  ii.  sect.  6.    8  Chap.  iv.  sects.  1,  3. 


LECT.  vm.]  BASIS   OF   FELLOWSfflP.  271 

new  Congregational  church,  which  is  the  primary  object 
of  inspection  by  the  council  assembled  to  help  in  insti- 
tuting it:  it  is  the  nature  of  the  covenant  presented, 
and  the  ability  of  those  desiring  recognition  to  enter 
into  any  true  church  covenant,  which  is  to  determine 
the  granting  or  withliolding  such  recognition  in  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship. 

How  tender,  effective,  and  complete,  may  be  the 
communion  of  churches  without  the  adoption  of  any 
common  creed,  the  history  of  the  New  Testament  and 
of  early  Congregationalism  may  make  us  aware.  The 
refusals  to  extend  to  would-be  new  churches  the  right 
hand  of  fellowship,  which  occur,  although  only  rarely, 
in  the  first  century  and  a  half  of  New-England  Congre- 
gationalism, are  not  attributable  to  desire  to  see  every 
new  church  instituted  upon  a  series  of  sufficiently 
orthodox  articles  of  belief.  The  cause  of  delay  in  the 
two  cases  already  cited  concerned  rather  the  principle  of 
a  regenerate  membership.  Mr.  Shepp-rd  "took  excep- 
tion at  the  Christian  experiences  "  of  several  of  the  can- 
didates for  membership  in  the  expected  First  Church  of 
Dorchester.  The  candidates  were  judged  by  the  council 
"  not  meet  at  present  to  be  the  foundation  of  a  church," 
because  they  built  their  hope  upon  "  dreams  and  ravishes 
of  the  spirit  by  fits,"  or  upon  mere  "  external  reforma- 
tion," or  "  upon  their  duties  and  performances."  And 
the  candidates  for  membership  at  the  first  attempt  to 
organize  the  North  Parish  Church  at  Andover  were 
delayed  in  consummating  their  union,  because  they 
refused  to  make  anew  the  confession  of  their  faith  and 
repentance. 

Upon  this  subject  we  must  not,  however,  forget  the 
following  truths.  There  was,  among  the  earlier  New- 
England  Congregationalists,  such  wide-spread  and  near- 


272  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.       [lect.  viu. 

ly  universal  consent  to  the  comprehensive  and  detailed 
statements  of  doctrine  made  in  the  Westminster  and 
Savoy  Confessions,  that  the  orthodoxy  of  the  would-be 
membership  of  the  churches  to  be  constituted  was,  as  a 
general  rule,  quite  beyond  suspicion.  The  Confession  of 
Faith,  so  far  as  it  formed  a  partial  manifestation  of  the 
real  basis  for  constituting  any  Congregational  church, 
and  for  its  recognition  by  sister-churches,  was  in  sub- 
stance a  very  simple  expression  of  heart-life ;  while  in 
form  it  was  made  an  integral  part  of  the  covenant. 
What  we  now  call  the  Covenant  was  then  frequently 
called  "  Confession  of  Faith  and  Covenant :  "  what  we 
call  the  Confession  of  Faith  (that  is,  articles  of  dogmatic 
belief)  was  not  put  forth  by  the  particular  church. 

The  ancient  custom,  however,  when  viewed  in  the 
light  of  the  changes  it  has  since  undergone,  leaves  us 
in  no  doubt  that  our  fathers  never  planned  to  receive 
into  the  communion  of  their  churches  any  bodies  of 
professed  disciples  with  whose  articles  of  belief  they 
were  not  in  substantial  accord.  Their  great  liberality 
in  the  terms  of  admission  to  the  particular  church  we 
have  already  discerned.  It  is  the  presence  of  heresy, 
with  its  accompanying  suspicion  and  slander,  wliich 
makes  it  incumbent  upon  the  local  church  to  set  forth 
articles  of  belief,  and  even  to  present  them  for  inspec- 
tion to  those  representatives  of  other  churches  from 
whom,  at  its  institution,  it  requests  the  right  hand  of 
fellowship.  In  the  words  of  John  Cotton,^  "  When,  a 
church  is  suspected  and  slandered,  with  corrupt  and 
unsound  doctrine,  they  have  a  call  from  God  to  set 
forth  a  public  confession  of  their  faith."  The  articles 
of  belief  formulated  by  the  particular  church  have  the 
same  general  object  as  those  formulated  by  learned  indi- 
1  Modest  and  Clear  Answer,  etc.,  Hanbury,  ii.  p.  162. 


LECT.  vin.]  BASTS   OF  FELLOWSHIP.  273 

viduals,  or  by  large  bodies  of  learned  Christians  assem- 
bled in  councils  and  synods.  They  are  promulgated  with 
a  view  to  exhibit  the  unity  of  the  Christian  churches 
in  the  Christian  faith.  The  neighboring  churches, 
when  called  to  recognize  a  new  institution  as  a  sister 
Congregational  church,  have  a  right  to  know  that  their 
acts  of  communion  are  to  correspond  to  a  reality. 

In  circumstances  where  a  creed,  adopted  by  the  local 
church  as  a  manifesto  of  its  faith,  seems  requisite  to 
make  clear  the  reality  of  the  basis  upon  which  the  com- 
munion  of  the  churches  is  sought  and  given,  such  a 
creed  may  be  required.     But  this  creed  is  not,  as  we 
have  already  concluded,  to  be  made  an  indispensable 
requirement,  and  exacted  of  each  member  received  into 
the  particular  church ;  nor  is  it  to  be  regarded  as  con- 
stituting the  basis  of  its  fellowship  with  other  churches. 
It  is  a  declaration  or  manifesto,  deemed  under  the  cir- 
cumstances desirable,  of  a  part  of  the  real  basis  of  com- 
munion.     The   act   of  the    council   organizing  a  new 
church  does  not  bind  the  church  never  to  change  the 
creed  which  it  sets  forth  before  the  sister-churches  at 
its  organization.      "For,"  to  finish   the    extract   from 
John  Cotton,  begun  above,  "to  prescribe  the  same  as 
the  confession  of  the  faith  of  that  church  to  their  pos- 
terity or  to  prescribe  the  confession  of  one  church  to  be 
a  form  and  pattern  unto    others,  sad  experience  hath 
showed  what  a  snare  it  hath  been  to  both." 

We  derive,  then,  this  conclusion  as  representing  the 
true  doctrine  of  Congregationalism.  The  particular 
church  is  to  make  a  statement  of  its  articles  of  belief, 
whenever  it  becomes  necessary  to  do  so  in  order  to 
manifest  the  reality  of  those  acts  of  communion  wliich 
it  seeks,  and  expects  to  give  to,  and  to  receive  from, 
other  Congregational  churches.     It  does  not,  however, 


274  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.       [lect.  vra. 

pledge  itself,  by  making  a  statement  of  dogma  at  its 
organization,  to    continue   the   one   form  of  statement 
indefinitely  without  change.     Both  church  and  council 
recognize  another  principle  of  Congregationalism  :    this 
is  the  principle  of  progress  through  inquiry.    The  expec- 
tation of  progress  recognizes  the  truth,  that,  in  articles 
of  belief,  Christian  churches  and  individual  members  of 
churches  can  require,  in  order  to  Christian  communion, 
only  a  very  limited   substantial  accord ;    and,  further- 
more, that  fixing  the  form  of  words  to  the  satisfaction 
of  one  particular  church  or  special  age  does  not  bind 
the  form  as  a  fixture  upon  all  particular  churches  or 
ages,  or  upon  any  one  church  for  any  special  period  of 
time.     The  manifest  advantage  upon  the  surrounding 
community  of  securing  in  every  church  of  Christ  some 
clear  and  potent  statement  of  its  articles  of  belief,  and 
the  great  disadvantage  of  making  too  frequent  changes 
in  these  statements,  do  not  concern  our  discussion  at 
the  present  point.     The  principle  of  the  communion  of 
churches  may,  indeed,  tolerate,  and  even  require,  that 
every  new  church  shall  exhibit  at  its  institution  a  satis- 
factory creed  as  well  as  covenant.      The  common-law 
principle  gives  us  at  present  such  a  safe  and  wise  cus- 
tom.    The  various  stages  of  the  growth  of  the  custom 
can  be  traced  in  the  history  of  our  churches.     A  single 
example  may  serve  to  mark  each  of  these  stages. 

The  very  earliest  stage  is  that  exhibited  in  the  wholly 
informal  communion  of  the  church  at  Plymouth  with 
the  church  at  Salem,  through  the  busy  Dr.  Fuller.  Yet 
so  intimate  and  effective  is  this  informal  communion, 
that  we  are  told  of  Gov.  Winthrop's  company,  Dr. 
Fuller  and  two  other  brethren  from  Plymouth  being 
at  hand,  "  They  would  do  nothing  without  our  advice, 
requiring  our  voices  as  their  own,  when  it  was  conclud- 


LECT.  VIII.]  THE   STAGES   OF   CREEDS.  275 

ed  that  the  Lord  was  to  be  sought  in  righteousness."  ^ 
An  example  of  the  communion  of  churches  in  insti- 
tuting a  new  church,  chosen  from  a  time  fifty  years 
later,  will  bring  us  to  the  next  stage. 

We  read,  that  at  the  organization  of  the  First  Church 
at  Marblehead,  Aug.  13,  1684,  "after  Mr.  Cheevers  had 
prayed  and  preached,  he  presented  and  read  a  confes- 
sion of  faith  and  covenant  which  they  had  all  consid- 
ered of  and  agreed  upon  among  themselves,  and  which 
then  they  did  express  their  consent  unto.  And  so  they 
were  owned  and  approved  by  the  elders  and  messen- 
gers of  the  churches  present  as  a  particular  and  dis- 
tinct church  of  Christ  amongst  themselves."  ^  At  the 
re-organization  of  the  First  Church  of  Salem  in  1736, 
the  members  added  to  their  simpler  ancient  covenant, 
among  other  words,  the  following :  ^  "  More  particularly 
as  to  our  faith,  we  are  persuaded  of  the  Christian  religion 
contained  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  books  of  the  old  and 
new  testament,  as  explained  in  the  Catechism  com- 
piled by  the  Rev'd  assembly  of  divines  at  Westminster, 
as  to  the  substance  of  it.  And  as  to  the  order  of  the 
gospel  among  us,  we  profess  and  take  the  Platform  of 
Church  Discipline  in  New  England,  composed  by  the 
Synod  at  Cambridge,  1648,  to  be  our  rule  and  method 
of  church  discipline."  We  note  here  this  fact,  that, 
as  to  faith,  the  confession  is  declared  taken  "  as  to  the 
substance  of  it ; "  and  one  of  the  subscribers  has  curi- 
ously enough  added  to  his  name  in  subscription  these 
words :  "  As  to  Discipline,  I  take  the  Platform  as  to  the 
substance  for  my  rule."  It  early  became  a  not  unfre- 
quent  practice  for  the  churches  to  vote  declarations  of 

1  Massachusetts  Historical  Collection,  vol.  iii.  p.  74,  f. 

2  Records  of  the  First  Church  of  Salem. 

*  New-England  Congregationalism,  etc.,  p.  112,  f. 


276  PRINCIPLES   OP  CHURCH   POLITY.       [lect.  vm. 

acceptance  of  some  one  or  more  of  the  historic  symbols. 
This  practice  marks  the  next  stage  in  tlie  growth  of 
custom.  And  the  spread  of  alleged  heresy,  especially 
during  the  Unitarian  controversy,  finally  fixed  our 
present  custom  of  expecting  each  particular  church  to 
exhibit  at  its  institution,  and  maintain  through  all  its 
course,  some  formulated  confession  of  the  Christian 
belief. 

There  arises,  therefore,  in  this  connection,  the  very 
practical  and  important  inquiry,  What  amount  and 
kind  of  agreement  must  be  expected  between  the  views 
of  the  council  organizing  a  church  and  the  creed  of 
the  men  and  women  expecting  thus  to  be  organized? 
To  this  inquiry  there  can  be  returned  only  the  same 
indefinite  reply  which  has  already  been  made  to  a 
similar  inquiry.  The  agreement  must  be  as  to  funda- 
mental truths  and  as  to  substance  of  doctrine.  Our 
forefathers,  indeed,  defined  heresy  to  be  "  the  stubborn 
maintenance  of  a  destructive  error  which  subverts  the 
foundations  of  the  Christian  religion,"  or  "the  venting 
of  corrupt  and  pernicious  opinions  that  destroy  the 
foundation ;  "  but  they  did  not  answer  for  all  time  the 
question.  What  is  the  exact  form  of  statement  necessary 
to  those  fundamental  truths?  or  even  the  question. 
What  are  the  truths  alone  fundamental  ?  For  the  an- 
swer to  these  questions  we  must  apply  ourselves  to  the 
Scriptures  in  the  use  of  an  enlightened  Christian  con- 
sciousness, remembering,  however,  the  subtle  remark  of 
Dr.  Gale,  "  It  is  very  common  to  call  those  points  we 
are  fond  of  fundamental,  and  think  it  very  justifiable, 
nay  commendable,  to  renounce  communion  with  such 
as  err  in  those  fundamentals." 

The  following  scriptural  tests  may  profitably  be  used 
on  all  occasions  of  such  inquiry :  (1}  Degree  of  clear- 


LECT.  vin.]  CEEEDS   AND   SCHISMS.  277 

ness ;  (2)  Extent  of  compass ;  (3)  Vitality  of  relation. 
"No  doctrine,"  says  Foster,  "is  a  fundamental  .  .  .  but 
what  is  so  plainly  and  distinctly  revealed  as  that  an 
ordinary  Cliristian,  sincere  in  his  inquiries,  cannot  miss 
of  the  knowledge  of  it."  "  All  things  in  Scripture," 
says  the  Westminster  Confession,  "  are  not  alike  plain 
in  themselves,  nor  alike  clear  unto  all."  "  He  that  will 
estrange  his  affection,"  says  Thomas  Hooker,  "  because 
of  the  difference  of  apprehension  in  things  difficult,  he 
must  be  a  stranger  to  himself  one  time  or  other." 

It  might  seem  that  this  free,  progressive  manner  of 
committing  the  formulated  statement  of  articles  of  faith 
to  the  exigencies  of  the  occasion,  and  at  all  times  so 
largely  to  the  judgment  and  conscience  of  the  local 
churches,  would  cause  wide-spread  and  scandalous  here- 
sies, and  finally  irreparable  schisms.  The  testimony 
of  history  is,  however,  directly  the  reverse  of  all  this. 
"  If  we  unroll  the  scroll  of  history,"  says  Professor  E.  P. 
Barrows,^  "  we  find  that  it  is  precisely  that  church  which 
has  the  strongest  organization  that  is  most  corrupt; 
and,  further,  that  it  is  this  very  strength  of  hierarchical 
power  that  makes  it  irreclaimable  in  its  corruptions." 
As  to  the  security  from  heresy  which  churches  find  in 
enforced  subscription  to  creeds,  the  German  author  who 
wrote  "  Notes  and  Additions  to  Hartley's  Work  upon 
Man,"  truly  says,  "Experience  clearly  shows,  that, 
though  the  Thirty-nine  Articles  were  established  for 
the  purpose. of  preventing  difference  of  opinion,  this 
end  has  not  been  in  the  least  degree  promoted  by 
them."  The  open  enemies  and  timid  friends  of  our 
church  order  are  of  the  opinion  that  it  is,  as  a  bond 
of  unity  in  doctrine,  no  better  than  a  rope  of  sand ; 
that  it  is,  in  dealing  with  heresy,  no  more  puissant  than 
1  Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  106. 


278  PRINCIPLES   OF  CHUflCH  POLITY.      [lect.  viii. 

the  shaking  fist  of  an  infant.  They  cannot  see  how 
it  is  possible  to  maintain  the  orthodoxy  of  the  local 
churches,  and  at  the  same  time  concede  to  them  the 
right,  and  lay  upon  them  the  responsibility,  of  erecting 
and  maintaining  their  own  standards  of  orthodoxy.  It 
is,  however,  always  a  safe  refutation  of  an  opinion  to 
allege  against  it  a  fact ;  and  surely  any  thing  may  be 
conceived  as  possible  which  has  been  for  two  centuries 
and  a  half  an  accomplished  fact.  No  other  church 
order  has  been  freer  from  heresy,  or  dealt  with  it,  when 
arising,  more  promptly  and  efficiently,  than  Congrega- 
tionalism. The  statistics  of  comparative  orthodoxy 
would  be  indeed  difficult  to  collect :  the  display  of 
them  would  be  an  invidious  task. 

Nearly  fifty  years  since.  Dr.  Leavitt,  in  speaking  ^  of 
this  same  complaint  against  Congregationalism,  in- 
stanced the  following  alleged  facts :  In  1772  some  two 
hundred  and  fifty  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England, 
holding  Unitarian  sentiments,  petitioned  the  British 
Parliament  to  be  released  from  subscription  to  the 
Thirty-nine  Articles.  The  petition  was  rejected,  and 
the  petitioners  not  censured :  they  remained,  however, 
in  the  church.  Did  they  become  orthodox,  or  dissem- 
ble? Since  the  Restoration  of  Charles  Second  (until 
1831),  the  same  author  states  that  one  hundred  and 
eighty-six  congregations  in  England  have  become  Uni- 
tarian, of  which  fewer  than  ten  were  Independent,  and 
the  great  majority  Presbyterian.^  Dr.  Chalmers  declared 
that  the  Scotch  Congregationalists  were  "the  purest 
body  of  Christians  in  the  United  Kingdom."  But  have 
not  Congregationalists  in  this  country  suffered  the  Uni- 

1  See  article  in  the  Christian  Spectator,  September,  1831. 

2  It  should  be  said  in  fairness,  that  these  churches  were  not  under  a 
fully  organized  Presbyterian  government. 


LECT.  vin.]  CREEDS   AND   SCHISMS.  279 

tarian  schism?  and  is  not  this  fact  always  alleged  as 
sufficient  proof  of  the  unsoundness  and  inefficiency  of 
their  church  order?  They  have  indeed  suffered  that 
combined  heresy  and  schism;  and  yet  the  conclusion 
legitimately  to  be  derived  from  the  facts  are  almost  pre- 
cisely the  opposite  of  those  often  drawn.  Unitarianism 
came  into  the  Congregational  churches  of  New  England, 
not  because  they  had  no  higher  walls  of  an  enforced 
creed  and  a  strictly  ecclesiastical  communion  with  one 
another :  Unitarianism  entered  those  churches  through 
the  breach  in  one  of  their  own  avowed  and  most  impor- 
tant principles ;  viz.,  that  of  a  regenerate  membership. 
Formalism,  indifferentism,  neglect  of  moral  reforms, 
and,  as  both  cause  and  result  of  these,  an  abundance 
of  unrenewed  men  and  women  in  the  churches,  were 
the  causes  of  their  seeming  disasters  in  that  sad  epoch. 

The  source,  then,  of  the  doctrinal  errors  which  afflicted 
the  churches  of  Massachusetts  in  the  eighteenth  centu- 
ry, and  which,  beginning  to  show  itself  in  Arminianism 
imported  from  England,  ended  with  Unitarianism  devel- 
oped from  within,  was  moral  and  religious  indifferent- 
ism in  the  churches  themselves.  In  the  order  of  time 
as  well,  the  decay  of  real  piety,  the  disregard  of  heart 
relations  to  God  and  to  Christ  as  a  requisite  of  church- 
membership,  preceded  the  doctrinal  defection.  And  the 
insisting  upon  a  formal  assent  to  a  creed,  rather  than 
the  search  after  a  change  in  the  inner  life,  fostered, 
instead  of  preventing,  the  doctrinal  defection.  Indeed, 
the  trust  in  a  creed  may  become  a  part  of  that  formal- 
ism which  invites  new  schisms.  So,  then,  it  came  about, 
that,  as  Dr.  James  S.  Clarke  has  declared,^  "  with  a  creed 
as  sound  as  John  Cotton's  or  John  Calvin's,  the  min- 
isters were  lapsing  into  religious  formalism,  and  the 
1  Historical  Sketch,  p.  140. 


280  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.       [i.jsct.  viii. 

churches  into  spiritual  apathy."  The  creed  was  sound ; 
but  the  preaching,  and  the  hearts  of  the  members  of 
the  churches,  had  not  the  power  of  the  spirit  of  Christ. 
Rev.  Thomas  Foxcroft  is  forced  to  lament  that  the 
printed  sermons  of  his  time  give  so  little  weight  to 
"the  grand  principles  of  the  everlasting  gospel;"  and 
the  writer  referred  to  above  asserts  that  the  several 
hundred  manuscripts  of  sermons  of  that  time  which  he 
has  had  occasion  to  examine  are  "  quite  as  defective  in 
fulness  and  force  of  evangelical  doctrine  as  those  which 
passed  the  press." 

Nor  is  this  relation  between  doctrinal  defection  and 
religious  indifferentism  confined  to  one  place  or  church 
order.  The  words  of  Jonathan  Edwards  may  be  illus- 
trated from  all  periods  and  forms  of  church  polity: 
"  The  doctrines  on  which  a  church  is  seen  to  act  will 
prevail  over  those  which  are  merely  uttered."  ^  A  half- 
century  of  moral  disturbances  and  ineffective  discipline, 
to  be  marked  by  much  bewailing  of  "  the  great  preva- 
lence of  vice  and  profaneness,"  and  of  "a  lamentable 
indifference  in  spiritual  concerns  among  the  people," 
passed  in  Connecticut  before  any  clear  signs  of  defec- 
tion in  doctrine  occurred.  And,  when  doctrinal  defec- 
tion did  occur  in  Connecticut,  it  was  prevented  from 
taking  the  form  of  Massachusetts  Unitarianism  by  a 
difference  of  the  two  States  in  circumstances. 

The  general  rule  and  policy  of  our  church  order,  de- 
parted from  in  the  instances  wherein  we  have  most 
suffered,  provides  that  doctrinal  purity  shall  be  secured 
chiefly  through  the  quickening  of  religious  life.  That 
each  member  of  the  particular  church,  and  each  indi- 
vidual church  of  the  sisterhood  of  churches,  shall  be 
really  alive  in   Jesus   Christ,  is  the  safeguard  of  our 

1  Great  Awakening,  p.  6. 


LKCT.  vm.]  HIGH-CHUECH  ASSUMPTION.  281 

orthodoxy.  As  one  means,  however,  of  securing  and 
promoting  this  vitality,  with  all  the  health  and  safety 
which  it  brings,  we  are  to  use  the  principle  of  the  com- 
munion of  churches.  This  principle  leads  us  to  con- 
sider every  church  as  both  dependent  and  independent. 
Rev.  John  Wise  says  ^  of  the  primitive  churches,  "  They 
wanted  (needed)  not  to  borrow,  or  receive  from  others, 
for  the  support  of  their  being,  and  so  were  independ- 
ent:" they  "wanted  the  advantage  of  all  good  means, 
...  so  they  were  dependent,  and  became  mutually  offi- 
cious, and  accountable  each  to  other." 

Even  the  titles  given  to  themselves  by  the  early  Con- 
gregational churches  are  eminently  expressive  of  these 
principles  which  limit  their  communion.  Indeed,  their 
history  of  suffering  and  wrong  borne  in  the  attempt  to 
attain  unto  the  liberty  with  which  Christ  makes  his  peo- 
ple free,  and  as  well  to  allow  to  others  like  liberty  ;  their 
broad  and  earnest  sympathies  with  all  true  Christians, 
and  willingness  to  commune  in  a  church  way  with  all  who 
loved  and  obeyed  their  Lord ;  their  modesty  of  claims 
contrasted  with  the  pretensions  of  national  churches,  — 
are  all  embodied  in  these  titles.  A  body  of  believers, 
bound  together  by  a  covenant  in  which  they  confessed 
their  common  faith  in  Christ,  and  their  common  pur- 
pose to  walk  together,  following  him,  these  men  called 
simply  "  a  church,"  or  "  the  church,"  or  "  the  church  of 
Christ,"  in  such  a  place.  To  speak  of  any  Congrega- 
tional church  as  "  a  church,"  or  "  the  church,"  in  the 
town  where  it  is  planted,  is  almost  to  give  an  epitome 
in  a  title  of  their  noble  doctrine.  That  any  writer  can 
speak  of  this  use  of  the  title  as  involving  an  unwarrant- 
able "  High-Church  assumption,"  and  then  proceed  to 
attribute  to  it  our  slow  progress  as  a  "  denomination," 

1  Vindication,  p.  16. 


282  PKINCIPLES   OF  CHURCH   POLITY.      [lect.  vra. 

is  more  than  your  lecturer  can  reconcile  with  intelli- 
gent and  loyal  Congregationalism.^ 

We  have  now  discussed  the  nature  of  the  principle 
of  communion  of  churches,  and  have  applied  it  to  the 
act  of  instituting  a  new  Congregational  church.  In 
that  act  is  the  germ  of  all  subsequent  acts  of  commun- 
ion. He  who  gives  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  the 
new  church  virtually  uses,  in  the  name  of  the  sister- 
churches,  these  words,  actually  spoken  by  Mr.  Prince 
when  he  gave  the  right  hand  to  Samuel  Cooper,  Boston, 
May  21,  1746 :  ^  "  We  shall  do  our  Endeavour  in  all 
lawful  Ways  to  preserve  her  in  Truth,  in  Purity,  in 
Order,  in  all  the  Liberties  wherewith  Christ  has  made 
her  free,  and  seek  her  Comfort  and  Prosperit}^ ;  as  we 
and  our  Churches  desire  and  expect  the  same  Exercise  of 
Love  from  Aer."  And  the  new  church,  clasping  this 
outstretched  hand,  responds  in  the  words  inserted  into 
the  covenant  of  the  Old  South  of  Boston,  at  its  forma- 
tion in  1669 :  "  We  do  hereby  covenant  and  promise, 
through  the  help  of  the  same  grace,  to  hold,  promote, 
and  maintain  fellowship  and  communion  with  all  the 
churches  of  saints,  in  all  those  holy  ways  of  order  ap- 
pointed between  them  by  our  Lord  Jesus,  to  the  utmost 
may  be,  especially  with  those  among  whom  the  Lord 
hath  sent  us ;  that  the  Lord  one,  and  his  name  one,  in 
all  these  churches,  throughout  all  generations,  to  his 
eternal  glory  in  Christ  Jesus." 

1  Yet  see  an  article  in  Congregational  Quarterly,  October,  1876,  p. 
542. 

2  Volume  in  the  Library  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society. 


LECTURE  IX. 

THE    PEINCIPLE    OF    THE    COMMUNION    OF    CHURCHES. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  principle  of  the  com- 
munion of  churches  is  derived  from  the  great  law  of 
Christian  brotherly  love,  and  that  all  acts  of  communion 
between  particular  churches  are  manifestations  of  the 
fact  of  this  love.  We  have  seen,  moreover,  that  the  law 
of  Christian  veracity  gives  limits  to  these  manifestations 
of  brotherly  love  in  the  communion  of  churches.  Ac- 
cording to  this  law,  every  act  of  communion  must  repre- 
sent a  reality :  the  appearance  of  communion,  formal  or 
informal,  must  stand  for  corresponding  facts  of  a  vital 
union  in  Christ.  The  particular  visible  church  is, 
therefore,  bound  to  have  communion,  within  certain 
limits,  with  all  churches  of  our  common  Lord.  But 
such  acts  of  communion  as  imply  a  common  way  of  in- 
stituting and  governing  local  congregations  of  believers 
can,  of  course,  have  no  place  except  between  churches 
who  in  reality  hold  to  the  same  way.  To  oppose  the 
manifestation  of  the  unity  of  all  believers  in  love  is 
schismatical,  and  a  breach  of  that  manifested  unity 
which  lay  so  dear  upon  the  sacred  heart  of  Jesus.  But, 
in  the  special  forms  used  for  the  manifestation  of  love, 
the  law  of  veracity  must  secure  a  real  correspondence 
between  the  symbol  and  the  fact. 

In  the  instituting  of  every  Congregational  church  it 

283 


284  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

is  fit,  then,  that  the  particular  church  instituted  shall 
give  and  receive  some  recognition  of  the  principle  of 
the  communion  of  churches.  With  right  feelinof  and 
good  judgment  in  its  membership,  it  will  crave  the  hand 
of  fellowship  from  neighboring  and  sister  churches.  It 
will  crave,  indeed,  such  fellowship  as  is  possible  with 
all  churches  of  Christ  everywhere.  But  since  a  special, 
more  varied,  and  more  helpful  form  of  manifesting  the 
spirit  of  fellowship  is  possible  only  with  surrounding 
Congregational  churches,  it  will  desire  a  more  formal 
and  intimate  communion  with  such  churches.  And  these 
churches,  if  they  have  right  feeling  and  good  judgment, 
will  crave  the  fellowship  of  the  recently  organized  and 
neighboring  church. 

The  question  may  arise,  especially  in  the  minds  of 
those  most  jealous  for  the  honor  of  our  denominational 
name,  whether  a  church  which  has  not  as  yet  recog- 
nized this  principle  by  some  formal  act  of  communion 
with  surrounding  Congregational  churches  can  prop- 
erly be  called  a  Congregational  church.  In  answering 
this  question  historically  we  should  be  obliged  to  recall 
the  two  drifts,  or  tendencies,  in  our  polity.  The  dis- 
tinction which  exists  between  Congregationalism  and 
Independency  has  always  been  more  or  less  insisted 
upon.  And  yet  our  fathers  did  not,  as  a  rule,  call  their 
own  churches  Congregational,  but  "  a  church,"  or  "  the 
church,"  or  "the  church  of  Christ,"  in  such  a  place. 
They,  on  the  whole,  emphasized  rather  the  autonomy 
of  the  local  church.  They  did  not  exact  formalities  of 
communion  as  a  prerequisite  to  acknowledgment  of  any 
church  by  its  sister-churches.  The  answer  to  the  above 
question  which  our  previous  analysis  demands,  may, 
then,  be  stated  thus :  A  church  may  be  a  Congrega- 
tional,  church,  and  yet  fail,  for  the  time,  to  give  due 


LECT.  IX.]  THE  FORMS   OF   COMMUNION.  285 

recognition  to  some  one  or  more  of  the  principles  of 
Congregationalism.  But  it  is  in  this  case  a  defective 
Congregational  church.  The  due  recognition  of  the 
principle  of  the  communion  of  churches  is  necessary  in 
order  to  make  a  complete  and  orderly  Congregational 
church.  But,  as  to  the  form  of  recognition  which  is  to 
be  counted  due  recognition,  our  custom  has  varied :  as 
in  the  matter  of  ordaining  a  pastor,  for  instance,  so,  also, 
in  the  matter  of  instituting  a  church.  Of  course  if 
Congregationalism  is  to  be  regarded  only  as  one  among 
the  many  denominations,  with  its  legally  organized 
standing  bodies,  and  its  fixed  system  of  rules  and  legal 
requirements,  then  formal  connection  with  those  stand- 
ing bodies,  formal  use  of  those  rules,  and  formal  com- 
pliance with  those  legal  requirements,  are  necessary  in 
order  to  give  any  particular  church  a  right  to  claim  the 
title  Congregational.  But,  if  the  marks  of  a  true  Con- 
gregational church  are  to  be  looked  for  in  its  conformity 
.to  certain  principles  as  authorized  by  the  doctrine  and 
church  life  of  the  New  Testament,  then  our  use  of  the 
title  will  be  somewhat  different  from  the  above.  We 
shall,  then,  consider  of  any  church,  whether  or  not  it  is 
marked  by  sufficient  conformity  to  the  principles  of  our 
church  order,  and  so  classify  it  as  Congregational  or 
otherwise.  At  any  rate,  the  bare  fact  that  such  extreme 
difficulty  exists  in  the  attempt  to  define  Congregational- 
ism by  the  marks  which  differentiate  it  as  one  denomi- 
nation from  other  denominations  is  a  most  suggestive 
fact. 

We  consider  now  some  of  the  various  forms  for  the 
communion  of  churches  which  may  be  expected  to 
follow  upon  the  institution,  according  to  the  require- 
ments of  this  principle,  of  the  particular  visible  church. 
All  acts  of  communion  amongst  sister  Congregational 


286  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

churches  may  be  divided  into  two  classes,  —  the  formal 
and  the  informal.  All  the  more  formal  acts  of  com- 
munion may  be  subdivided  into  the  direct  and  the 
indirect.  We  consider  first  the  informal  acts  of  com- 
munion. 

It  is  plain  that  the  New-Testament  churches  lived  in 
varied,  constant,  warm,  and  effectual  intercourse  with 
one  another ;  and  yet  very  little  of  this  intercourse  can 
be  formulated  into  rules  for  our  detailed  following. 
Of  conventions,  councils,  synods,  consociations,  associa- 
tions, clubs,  boards,  and  the  various  organized  forms 
for  manifesting  Christian  unity  which  are  employed  by 
our  churches  in  the  present  day,  they  knew  little  or 
nothing.  We  cannot  by  any  means  argue  from  this 
fact  that  we  should  make  no  use  of  such  forms.  The 
doctrine  of  strict  conformity  solely  to  the  customs  of 
the  New-Testament  churches  should  by  this  time  ap- 
pear obsolete.^  We  do  hold,  however, — and  in  thus 
holding  we  simply  remain  faithful  to  the  great  formal 
principle  of  the  true  church  polity,  —  that  the  princi- 
ples and  ideas  embodied  in  New-Testament  institutions 
and  customs  are  designed  to  instruct  and  obligate  all 
churches  in  all  ages.  We  may,  therefore,  argue  from 
the  example  of  the  New-Testament  churches,  that 
Christian  churches  in  this  day  will  do  well  to  give  a 
large  relative  importance  to  the  more  informal  acts  of 
communion.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  these 
informal  acts  are  much  more  important  than  the  more 
formal.  To  have  love  toward  our  brethren  in  other 
churches,  and  to  evince  the  reality  and  largeness  of  this 
love,  is  work   above  all  organizing  and  controlling  of 

1  This  doctrine  was,  however,  at  one  time,  prevalent  among  the 
Puritans,  especially  of  England.  It  was  to  controvert  this  doctrine  that 
the  great  work  of  Eichard  Hooker  was  written. 


LECT.  IX.]         IISTFOEMAL   ACTS   OF   COMMUNIOK.  287 

synods  and  associations.  The  Home  Missionary  Society 
and  the  Congregational  Union  are  of  more  importance 
to  the  communion  of  churches  than  is  the  National 
Council ;  unless,  indeed,  this,  too,  shall  prove  a  potent 
means  of  propagating  Christian  churches  and  of  really 
uniting  them  in  love. 

Of  necessity,  it  is  not  feasible  to  give  a  full  discussion 
of  such  informal  acts  of  communion,  or  even  a  complete 
enumeration  of  them.  Their  form  and  variety  must  be 
left  to  the  inventiveness  of  the  Christian  minds  and 
hearts  which  compose  the  churches.  In  these  things 
love  has  a  genius  for  invention.  It  is  fertile  in  expedi- 
ents. It  perpetually  and  momently  devises  new  means 
for  expression.  It  seizes  upon  all  the  instrumentalitiea 
contrived  by  selfish  men  for  other  ends,  and  converts 
them  into  instruments  of  love.  It  discovers  in  the 
steamship,  the  railroad,  the  telegraph,  and  telephone, 
new  opportunities  given  by  the  Holy  Spirit  for  diffusing 
the  influences  which  flow  from  the  mind  and  heart  of 
Christ.  It  communes  by  rail,  by  wire,  by  express-pack- 
age, or  by  letter.  It  surveys  the  result  of  the  modern 
spirit  of  mechanics,  and  declares,  as  Dr.  Anderson  did 
of  the  railways  of  India,  "  The  whole  is  built  as  really 
for  the  church  as  for  the  world,  and  wholly  at  the  expense 
of  the  latter.'''' 

The  union  of  Congregational  churches  in  efi'orts  for 
self-propagation  and  for  the  diffusion  of  the  gospel  in  the 
whole  world  by  the  work  of  missions  furnishes  the  most 
valuable  forms  of  communion  amongst  sister-churches. 
The  self-propagation  of  Congregationalism,  and  the 
relation  of-  its  principles  to  the  work  of  missions,  will, 
therefore,  receive  attention  in  separate  lectures.  The 
active,  informal,  and  spontaneous  expression  of  love  in 
all  practicable  ways  of  communion  should  constantly 


288  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

appear  between  the  wealthier  and  stronger  churches 
and  those  which  are  poorer  and  weaker.  Because  this 
expression  has  not  been  sufficiently  given  from  East  to 
West,^  and  from  West  back  again  to  East,  from  every 
metropolitan  church  centrifugally  to  all  the  surround- 
ing churches,  and  from  them  centripetally  toward  every 
metropolitan  church,  we  have  suffered  far  more  than 
because  we  have  not  had  enough  of  strong  organization 
and  ready-to-hand  ecclesiastical  machinery.  We  must 
remember  that  for  one  church  really  not  to  care  for 
another  involves  an  immoral  lack  of  Christian  love, 
and  that  for  any  church  to  manifest  no  care  for  other 
churches  is  an  immoral  failure  to  commune  with  others 
in  love.  The  Congregational  churches  of  the  East,  with 
their  firmer  stability  and  longer  experience,  are  espe- 
cially obligated  to  those  of  the  West,  not  simply  for  gifts 
of  money,  but  chiefly  for  vital  interest,  sympathy,  appre- 
ciation, cheer.  Each  particular  visible  church  is  obli- 
gated to  every  other,  not  for  the  feelings  alone,  but  also 
for  their  manifestation  in  all  judicious  ways  and  upon 
all  fit  occasions.  The  churches  in  the  cities  are  espe- 
cially bound  by  this  principle  of  communion  to  demon- 
strate their  interest  and  affection  toward  the  churches 
of  the  surrounding  country.  The  fellowship-meeting 
is  in  many  places  a  most  valuable  means  of  communion 
amongst  churches.  Interchange  of  pastors  is  one  of 
the  means  enumerated  by  the  Cambridge  Platform  :  no 
minister  or  congregation  has  the  right,  out  of  selfish, 
and,  for  the  most  part,  narrow  notions  of  the  superiority 
of  their  own  things  to  the  things  of  others,  to  refuse  a 
due  amount  of  such  interchange.  The  interchange  of 
members  in  prayer-meetings  and  in  the  initiation  and 

1  In  illustration  of  this  fact  consult  the  words  of  Dr.  Post  in  Ameri- 
can Congregational  Union  Addresses  for  1854,  p.  94,  f. 


LECT.  IX.]         INFORMAL  ACTS   OF  COMMUNION.  289 

management  of  beneficent  enterprises  is  a  means  of  the 
communion  of  cliurclies.  Delegates  formally  appointed, 
and  informal  visitors,  should  pass  between  the  social 
meetings  of  neighboring  churches  with  words  of  encour- 
agement, cheer,  advice,  and  even  rebuke.  Letters  and 
gifts  coming  from  one  church  to  another  are  golden  ties 
to  bind  them  together.  No  member  from  one  Congre- 
gational church  should  be  able  to  reside  for  more  than 
a  few  days  in  the  vicinity  of  another  Congregational 
church,  without  a  verbal  or  written  introduction  com- 
mendmg  him  to  fraternal  care,  interest,  and  affection. 
The  epistola  formata^  or  regular  testimonial,  should  be 
in  the  pocket  of  every  Christian  traveller.^  There  can 
be  little  doubt  that  the  relative  increase  and  sufficiency 
of  these  more  informal  acts  of  communion  will  charac- 
terize the  advance  of  the  kingdom  of  God  upon  earth. 
And  long  after  our  different  rabbis  shall  have  ceased  to 
join  in  heated  debate  over  the  right  form  of  constitut- 
ing councils,  synods,  consociations,  and  all  the  other 
forms  of  set  ecclesiastical  concla,ve,  the  saints  on  earth 
and  the  saints  on  high  will  follow  the  movings  of  Christ's 
spirit  within  them  to  make  known  to  one  another  and 
to  the  universe  the  strength  and  tenderness  of  their 
mutual  love. 

Of  the  more  formal  and  direct  means  by  which  differ- 
ent particular  churches"  may  commune  with  one  another, 
the  number  known  as  obligatory  to  Congregationalism 
may  be  reduced  to  one.  This  form  is  the  recognition 
extended  by  each  church  to  others  when  they  give  and 
receive  advice.  The  thought  upon  which  rests  the  use 
of  such  means  is  this,  that  all  individual  Christians, 
and  all  particular  churches,  may  have  the  enlightenment 
of  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  that,  therefore,  by  a  really 

1  See  Neander's  Memorials  of  Christian  Life,  p.  78. 


290  PRESrCrPLES  op   church  polity.         [lect.  rs. 

mutual  conference,  Christians  may  better  succeed  in 
knowing  what  is  the  mind  of  Christ.  It  is,  therefore, 
the  material  principle  of  the  true  church  polity  which 
gives  rationality  and  force  to  all  so-called  ecclesiastical 
councils.  If  the  coming-together  of  different  particular 
churches  in  their  representative  members  is  for  a  pur- 
pose defined  beforehand,  and  limited  by  the  call  as  to 
time  and  questions  proposed,  it  may  be  called  a  synod, 
or,  more  commonly,  a  council.  But  certain  forms  of 
assembly  which  are  recognized  as  standing  councils 
have  established  themselves  in  the  working  of  our 
church  order ;  among  these  we  may  enumerate  the  so- 
called  consociations,  conferences,  conventions  of  various 
geographical  limits,  and  the  National  Council. 

The  rules  which  are  recognized  as  binding,  since  they 
express  the  results  of  our  common-law  principle  with 
reference  to  the  distinctively  Congregational  synod  or 
council,  are  given  at  length  in  the  different  manuals. 
It  is  aside  from  our  purpose,  and  unnecessary,  to  go  over 
their  ground.  It  is,  however,  demanded  by  our  purpose 
that  we  should  recall  to  mind  certain  truths  in  regard 
to  the  Congregational  council,  which  would  seem  too 
obvious  and  simple  to  require  notice,  were  it  not  in  fact 
certain  that  they  are  constantly  being  lost  out  of  mind. 
These  truths  concern  the  initiation,  progress,  and  result 
of  this  form  of  the  communion' of  churches.  They  are 
adapted  to  make  sure  that  the  call  of  the  council,  the 
deliberations  and  decision  of  the  council,  the  reception 
and  use  of  its  decree  (or  result),  shall  all  be  suffused  and 
controlled  by  the  indwelling  power  of  truth  and  love. 

Almost  from  the  beginning  there  have  been  two  ten- 
dencies, and  for  the  last  century  and  a  half  two  con- 
flicting views  openly  expressed,  upon  this  subject  of  the 
rights  and  duties  of  the  churches   in    communion   by 


LECT.  IX.]  AUTHOKITY  OF   COUNCILS.  291 

councils.  Of  the  many  controversial  pamphlets  which 
grew  out  of  the  quarrel  in  the  New  North  Church  of 
Boston  in  1719,  only  two  remain ;  but  these  two  —  now, 
as  we  are  told,  "  lovingly  stitched  together  into  one," 
and  lying  thus  amicably  in  the  collections  of  the  Con- 
gregational Library  Association  —  were  written  to  ad- 
vance, one,  the  one,  and  the  other,  the  other,  of  these 
two  conflicting  views.  The  pamphlet  of  Rev.  Increase 
Mather  maintains,  that  "  if  any  of  our  churches  presume 
to  transact  their  weighty  affairs "  without  the  use  of 
councils,  "  or  if  they  refuse  the  advice  of  those  who  urge 
them  to  make  use  of  this  remedy  .  .  .  they  exclude  them- 
selves from  communion."  But  the  pamphlet  of  Peter 
Thatcher  and  John  Webb  maintains,  "  It  is  an  essen- 
tial right,  belonging  to  particular  churches,  to  enjoy  a 
free  liberty  within  themselves  ...  to  judge  upon  their 
own  affairs  as  becometh  creatures  endued  with  reason 
and  conscience ;  "  and  "  they  ought  to  have  the  privilege 
reserved  unto  them  of  regularly  determining  when  and 
in  what  cases  to  call  in  the  help  of  their  brethren."^ 

The  nature  of  the  decree  of  the  council  —  I  desire  to 
use  the  word  "  decree  "  simply  as  signifying  the  voted 
judgment  of  the  body,  and  as  far  as  possible  without  em- 
bodying in  it  a  theory  —  has  traditionally  been  the  chief 
subject  of  debate.  On  the  one  side  it  has  been  too 
often  most  baldly  asserted  that  every  such  decree  is 
only  advisory ;  on  the  other  side  it  has  seemed  to  be 
even  more  baldly  asserted  that  the  decree  of  a  council 
has  inherent  authority,  and,  indeed,  irrespective  of  ra- 
tional considerations,  is  of  a  mandatory  nature.  The 
debate  has  not  unfrequently  degenerated  into  a  strife 
to  affix  \)ne  word  or  the  other  to  a  thing  the  real  nature 

1  See  Historical  Sketch  of  Congregational  Churclies  in  Massachusetts, 
p.  133,  f. 


292  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHFECH  POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

of  which  has  been  little  regarded,  and  less  understood. 
In  certain  meanings  of  the  words,  all  good  advice  is 
authoritative,  mandatory :  in  certain  other  meanings  of 
the  same  words,  all  authority  except  that  of  God  alone, 
is  only  advisory.  The  truth  is,  that  we  mortals  are 
much  in  doubt  as  to  what  is  truth ;  but  Christian  men 
should  always  be  candidly  seeking  the  truth.  The 
truth  when  found  is  always  mandatory;  but  human 
opinion  is  advisory  of  the  truth.  To  claim  that  any 
individual  Christian,  or  any  particular  church  of  Christ, 
being,  after  diligent  and  prayerful  inquiry,  still  in 
doubt  as  to  the  truth,  may  further  inquire  of  other 
Christian  churches  their  deliberate  judgment  upon  the 
truth,  and  may  then  treat  that  judgment  with  levity  or 
contempt,  would  be  to  claim,  under  the  name  of  Con- 
gregational freedom,  an  indecent  libertinism,  a  kind  of 
right  to  prostitute  the  truth  in  the  service  of  selfishness 
or  passion.  But  to  claim,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the 
decree  of  a  council  viewed  ah  extra,  and  irrespective 
of  the  purity  of  motive  which  instituted  and  controlled 
it,  and  of  the  value  in  rendering  judgment  of  the  minds 
which  composed  the  council,  must,  as  some  sacred 
papal  bull  or  imperial  ukase,  of  necessity  govern  those 
to  whom  it  is  issued,  or  else  the  rejecters  be  regarded 
as  schismatic,  and  impugners  of  the  dignity  and  force 
of  Congregationalism,  is  to  claim  a  palpable  and  un- 
bearable absurdity.  Because  particular  churches  know 
that  they  are  themselves  liable  to  err,  they  ask  the  help 
of  other  churches  in  discovering  the  mind  of  Christ.  In 
the  sincere  asking  they  recognize  the  truth  that  one 
Christian  judgment  may  correct  other  Christian  judg- 
ment, and  that  in  a  multitude  of  counsellors  there  is 
safety.  They  should  ask  such  help  as  will  insure  their 
confidence  in  the  help  when  rendered.     But  evefti  large 


LECT.  IX.]  AUTHORITY   OF   COUNCILS.  293 

and  dignified  conclaves  are  not  infallible.  In  respect  to 
the  most  imposing  synods  and  councils,  tlie  manly  words 
of  Lambert  can  never  be  safely  out  of  mind:  "Greater 
is  the  decree  of  God  than  all  the  multitude  of  men ;  and 
better  is  it  to  adhere  to  one  who  has  the  Word  of  the 
Lord  than  to  many  that  follow  their  own  judgment." 
There  is  much  more  than  at  first  appears  in  Richard 
Mather's  celebrated  dictum,  that  the  decision  of  a  coun- 
cil has  as  much  force  as  there  is  force  in  the  reason  for 
that  decision.  Here  is  force  ;  the  force  is  limited  hy  the 
reasonableness  of  itself;  the  force  is  diviner  and  more 
authoritative,  because  it  is  not  force^  unless  it  be  rea- 
sonable force. 

This  general  truth  should  be  applied  to  the  initiation 
and  progress,  as  well  as  the  result,  of  every  Congrega- 
tional synod  or  council. 

The  call  for  a  council  must  have  the  characteristics 
of  veracity  and  charity  in  order  to  insure  an  authori- 
tative result.  The  particular  church  which  selects  in 
shrewd  selfish  fashion  the  material  for  its  construction 
of  a  council,  superintends  with  architectural  skill  the 
details  of  the  edifice  it  proposes  to  erect,  and  then 
shelters  its  spirit  of  disingenuousness  and  lying  under 
the  completed  structure,  may  expect  to  feel  the  fabric 
falling  into  ruin  over  its  own  head.  To  pack  a  council, 
to  manipulate  it  after  the  ways  of  politics,  forsaken  as 
they  are  of  the  spirit  of  God,  is  to  secure  an  illusory 
and  untrustworthy  result.  Of  all  kinds  of  chicanery 
ecclesiastical  chicanery  is  most  immoral.  The  call  to 
a  council,  for  whatever  purpose  the  council  be  called, 
must,  I  repeat,  be  fair  and  ingenuous  to  insure  an  au- 
thoritative decree.  The  heavenly  dove  whose  presence 
will  alone  consecrate  the  assembly  may  refuse  to  enter 
walls   soiled  with   deceit.      Moreover,  the  pressure  of 


294  PEINCIPLES   OP  CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

state  and  partisan  considerations  should  not  be  felt  in 
the  calling  of  a  Congregational  council.  The  motion 
of  that  General  Court,  which,  in  May  15,  1646,  issued 
the  call  for  a  Congregational  synod,  was  in  spirit  and 
expression  opposed  to  the  fundamental  principles  of 
Congregationalism.  This  call  truly  asserts  that  "  the 
form  of  church  government  and  discipline  being  agreed 
part  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  on  earth  .  .  .  must  needs 
greatly  conduce  "  to  his  honor  and  glory.  But  the  pro- 
posal to  give  the  "  sanction  of  civil  authority "  to  the 
form  decreed  by  the  synod  is  a  vitiating  element  in 
the  call.  On  account  of  the  oifence  duly  taken  by  the 
ministers  of  Connecticut  to  the  call  of  the  General 
Court  for  a  synod  in  1666,  the  court  changed  the  name 
of  the  proposed  gathering,  and  requested  an  assembly 
of  the  ministers  of  that  State.  But  both  this  synod 
and  the  preceding  one  of  1657,  called  and  in  a  manner 
pledged  beforehand,  as  they  were,  to  enforce  by  their 
decrees  the  provisions  of  the  Half-way  Covenant,  could 
not  fail  to  render  decisions  upon  this  subject  which 
were  devoid  of  authority  :  they  were  devoid  of  authority 
because  they  were  devoid  of  sound  Christian  judgment. 
Necessarily  and  rightly  it  came  to  pass  that  they  did 
not  carry  uniformity  with  them.  They  did  not  have 
genuine  force,  because  they  were  separated  from  the 
source  of  force  in  principle.  "  We  entreated  and  urged, 
again  and  again,"  says  Rev.  Increase  Mather  in  his 
Preface  to  Davenport's  pamphlet,  "  that  this,  which 
they  themselves  acknowledged  was  a  principle  of  truth, 
might  be  set  down  for  a  conclusion,  and  then  we  should 
all  agree.  But  those  reverend  persons  would  not  con- 
sent to  this."  How  accurate  a  picture  does  this  appear 
to  be  of  scenes  enacted  repeatedly  since  that  time,  and 
even  in  our  own  day !     It  was  in  the  same  line  of  con- 


LECT.  IX.]  AUTHORITY   OP   COUNCILS.  295 

duct  that  an  act  of  council  removed  Jonathan  Edwards, 
on  account  of  his  opposition  to  the  practices  of  the 
Half-way  Covenant,  from  the  pastorate  at  Northampton. 
Whenever  we  are  tempted  unduly  to  long  for  more 
force  in  the  decrees  of  synods  and  councils,  we  may 
remind  ourselves  that  it  was  the  unbearable  tyranny 
of  such  '-'•force "  which  led  Edwards  to  write  to  Mr, 
Erskine  that  he  was  "perfectly  out  of  conceit  of  our 
unsettled,  independent,  confused  way  of  church  govern- 
ment in  this  land." 

The  deliberations  as  well  as  the  call  of  a  synod  or 
council  should  be  duly  motived  in  order  to  secure  a 
decree  which  has  the  authority  of  right  Christian  judg- 
ment. Sound  deliberations  are  requisite  in  order  to  en- 
gender the  force  which  is  legitimate  force,  because,  and 
as  far  as,  it  is  reasonable  force.  An  assembly  of  believ- 
ers for  purposes  of  a  really  mutual  conference  may 
always  ask  and  receive  the  enlightenment  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  This  enlightenment  is  requisite  to  the  authority 
of  their  decree.  "  It  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  to  us,"  is  the  valid  claim  which  gave  mandatory 
force  to  the  letter  from  Jerusalem.  But  every  thing  in 
the  management  of  the  deliberations  of  an  ecclesiastical 
council  which  is  not  pure  and  peaceable  is  a  barrier 
against  the  revelation  of  the  will  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
All  manipulating  of  votes,  all  influencing  of  opinion 
by  suspicion,  threats,  or  maligning,  all  selfish  passion 
and  low  artifice,  all  brilliant  but  unsound  rhetoric,  and 
tricksy  art  of  speech,  are  in  themselves  vicious,  and 
tend  to  vitiate  the  result  of  ecclesiastical  conclave. 
And  he  does  not  know  the  alphabet  of  church  history 
who  does  not  know  that  these  things  have  been  abun- 
dant in  ecclesiastical  conclave  from  the  beginning  of 
the  fourth  century  until  now.     It  is  fit  that  frankness, 


296  PEINCIPLES  OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.ix. 

plainness,  and  charity  should  characterize  Congrega- 
tional councils.  It  is  evident  that  their  capture  by  the 
political  intrigue  or  overweening  influence  of  a  few  men 
is  destructive  of  their  character,  and  so,  also,  of  their 
claim  to  authority;  not  that  God  cannot  make  the 
wrath  of  men  to  praise  him,  and  in  the  last  resort  en- 
force his  truth  by  human  disingenuousness  and  self- 
deceit. 

Too  great  heat  or  severity  of  temper,  and  a  certain 
ingrained  stubbornness  of  mind  from  which  even  the 
Congregational  clergy  are  not  wholly  free,  may  also 
prejudice  the  deliberations  of  a  council.  When  the 
great  and  good  John  Robinson  and  William  Brewster 
returned  to  Leyden  from  thek  mission  to  the  church 
at  Amsterdam,  they  confessed  that  they  had  delivered 
their  church's  message  "with  some  vehemence;"^  but 
it  does  not  appear  that  they  had  largely  transgressed 
the  limits  of  a  manly  Christian  rebuke  for  the  wrong, 
which,  as  they  believed,  had  been  committed.  Mere 
conscientiousness  will  not,  however,  always  insure  ad- 
vice which  should  be  followed.  There  is  an  abundance 
of  men,  some  of  whom  are  occasionally  sent  to  Congre- 
gational councils,  of  whom  we  may  say,  as  does  Dr. 
Leonard  Bacon  of  the  minority  of  the  church  in  Guil- 
ford, "conscientious  as  well  as  wilful,  perhaps  the 
more  conscientious  for  being  wilful,  certainly  the  more 
wilful  for  being  conscientious."  ^ 

Wisdom,  the  adaptation  of  right  means  to  worthy 
ends,  as  well  as  charity  and  veracity,  should  have  a 
generous  place  in  the  deliberations  of  every  Congrega- 
tional council. 

1  See  Genesis  of  the  New-England  Churches,  p.  235. 

2  For  an  account  of  this  instructive  example  of  mishaps  in  the  com- 
munion of  churches  see  Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  History  of 
Connecticut,  p.  48,  f. 


LECT.  IX.]  AUTHORITY  OF   COUNCILS.  297 

Since,  then,  the  purity  and  force  of  the  call  and  of 
the  deliberations  of  every  council  enter  into  its  result, 
the  character  of  the  results  of  different  councils  will 
differ  in  respect  to  purity  and  force.  The  force  of  the 
decree  will  depend  upon  the  men  and  motives  which  lie 
behind  it;  for  the  Spirit  of  God,  if  present  at  all,  is 
in  the  men  and  the  motives,  not  in  the  ink  and  paper 
of  the  decree.  It  is,  therefore,  not  surprising  or  unrea- 
sonable that  the  advice  of  different  councils  should 
have  a  different  degree  of  force,  or  even  that  different 
views  should  prevail  as  to  the  force  which  is  in  the  ad- 
vice of  any  council.  The  intemperate  language  which 
asserts,  that,  since  the  combined  action  of  churches  in 
councils  and  synods  has  the  nature  of  a  solemn  cove- 
nant, therefore  to  break  from  this  covenant  is  well-nigh 
blasphemous,  and  to  hold  loose  from  its  check  or  con- 
trol is  to  become  "  a  pest  to  society,"  ^  will  have  small 
convincing  power  over  calm  minds.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  doctrine  which  is  maintained  by  those  who 
follow  the  lansruage  of  Rev.  Samuel  Mather  ^  —  that 
councils  can  "  neither  pretend  to  nor  desire  any  power 
that  is  juridical ;  that,  "  when  they  have  done  all,  the 
churches  are  still  free  to  accept  or  refuse  their  advice  " 
—  has  too  often  been  made  a  pretence  for  self-will  and 
disorderly  conduct.  The  decrees  of  such  councils  as 
have  had  the  reasonableness  that  is  secured  by  purity 
of  motive,  dispassionateness  of  judgment,  wisdom  in 
adapting  means  to  ends,  have  seldom  been  wanting  in 
both  the  appearance  and  the  reality  of  force.  We  find 
the  first  synod  of  Congregational  churches  in  New 
England  (that  of  1637),  "  comprising  all  the  teaching 

1  See,  for'an  example  of  such  language,  Congregationalism  as  Con- 
tained in  the  Scriptures,  etc.,  p.  24,  f. 

2  In  his  Apology  for  the  Liberties  of  the  Churches  of  New  England, 
1738, 


298  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

elders  throughout  the  country,"  engaged  for  twenty- 
four  days  m  discussmg  the  views  which  had  been  in- 
troduced among  them  by  Mrs.  Hutchinson.  They 
wisely  decided  against  these  new  views;  and  we  are 
told,  —  perhaps,  as  we  might  suspect,  with  a  touch  of 
the  exaggeration  belonging  to  triumph,  — "  They  who 
came  together  with  minds  exasperated,  by  this  means 
depart  in  peace."  But  in  "New-England's  First- 
Fruits,"  written  a  few  years  later,  we  are  further 
assured,  "  The  matter  came  to  such  an  happie  con- 
clusion that  most  of  the  seduced  came  humbly  and 
confessed  their  errours  in  our  publique  assemblies,  and 
abide  to  this  day  constant  in  the  truth.  .  .  .  And  from 
that  time  not  any  unsound,  unsavourie  and  giddie  fan- 
cie  have  dared  to  lift  up  his  head,  or  abide  the  light 
amongst  us."  ^  "  I  have  been  touched,"  saj^s  Professor 
Park,2  "by  the  moral  sublimity  of  several  councils 
which  they  (the  elder  Edwards  and  his  friend  Hop- 
kins) attended,  investigating  for  an  entire  day,  and 
with  more  than  a  father's  patience,  the  complaint  of 
some  hired  laborer,  and  then  adopting  no  magisterial 
tones,  but  adjusting  their  advice  to  his  necessities,  as  if 
they  were  the  exigencies  of  an  empire."  But  the  nor- 
mal authority  and  force  in  fact  of  such  decrees  can 
never  be  reached  by  the  hasty  work  of  selected  parti- 
sans, or  by  pushing  through,  against  the  judgment  of 
others,  certain  crude  expedients  for  displaying  a  manu- 
factured and  fictitious  force.  In  declaring  the  faith  of 
the  churches,  as  did  the  framers  of  the  Cambridge 
Platform  and  of  the  Saybrook  Confession,  the  Congre- 
gational council  or  synod  has  all  the  force  which 
belongs  to  the  occasion  and  to  the   character  of  the 

1  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  series  1,  vol.  i.  p.  247. 

2  Fitness  of  the  Church,  p.  11. 


LECT.  IX.]  AUTHORITY  OF   COUNCILS.  299 

men  who  compose  it.  When  requested  to  advise  in  the 
discipline  of  some  member  of  a  particular  church,  or 
when  themselves  undertaking  the  discipline  of  a  sister- 
church,  the  persons  gathered  to  render  a  decision 
need  always  to  remember  that  the  real  potency  and 
permanency  of  their  decision  depend  upon  whether 
they  can  truthfully  say,  "It  has  seemed  good  to  the 
Holy  Ghost  and  to  us."  Even  the  same  Rev.  Richard 
Mather,  whose  law  of  the  force  of  a  council's  decree 
has  been  recited,  being  himself  rebuked  by  such  a 
decree  for  "his  inconsideration,"  and,  although  his 
fault  is  not  so  expressed,  for  his  apparent  criminal  con- 
cealment of  the  truth,  took  the  blame  of  his  failing 
upon  himself,  and  "freely  submitted  to  the  judgment 
and  advice  given."  ^ 

Let  us  further  remember  to  avoid  that  disingenuous 
habit  of  logical  see-saw,  which  leads  so  many  to  extol 
the  Congregational  council  when  its  decision  suits  them- 
selves, and  to  decry  all  councils  whenever  the  decree 
of  some  one  does  not  coincide  with  their  views;  to 
depreciate  the  authority  which  resides  in  the  decree  of 
a  few  plain  men  who  give  their  best  judgment  upon  the 
simple  matter  before  them,  and  to  pine  for  the  exhibi- 
tion of  a  new  force  through  the  judgment  of  the 
selected  and  learned  leaders  among  the  clergy,  who  can 
talk  upon  all  difficulties  with  an  equal  confidence  in 
their  own  methods  for  a  universal  and  speedy  settle- 
ment of  them  all.  In  fine,  the  sole  way  to  increase  the 
authority  of  councils  is  to  give  them  a  more  definite  and 
trustworthy  moral  character.  And,  if  I  am  able  to  read 
our  history  aright,  they  by  no  means  attain  to  this  char- 
acter in  the  same  proportion  as  they  become  more  dis- 
tinctively ecclesiastical,  or  more  under  the  influence  of 

1  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections,  series  1,  vol.  v.  p.  277,  f. 


300  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

clerical  ambition,  and  zeal  for  individual  opinion.  This 
history  shows  that  contempt  of  councils  has  been  bred, 
both  by  a  too  frequent  and  injudicious  or  disingenuous 
resort  to  councils,  and  by  the  desire  to  tone  up  ortho- 
doxy or  discipline  through  a  projected  resort  to  some 
other  kind  of  force  than  the  force  of  reason. 

But  some  of  us  are  eager  to  know  where  we  shall 
find  our  concrete  ultimatum  in  authority.  We  want  a 
kind  of  audible,  visible,  and  tangible  infallibility.  With 
Roman  Catholicism  this  concrete  ultimatum  is  in  the 
infallible  pontiff.  We  cannot  say,  that,  with  the  Pres- 
byterian Church,  it  is  in  the  Westminster  Confession 
and  the  Book  of  Discipline,  because  the  further  decis- 
ion of  the  courts  of  Presbyterianism  must  be  invoked 
to  determine,  in  each  case  which  arises,  what  is  a  satis- 
factory accord  of  each  man  with  his  accepted  confession 
or  with  his  promised  submission  to  the  discipline.  But 
where,  in  the  Congregational  churches,  shall  we  look 
for  that  declaration  of  truth  and  law  which  cannot  be 
gainsaid  or  resisted?  What,  or  whose  decision,  shall 
be  to  us  the  end  of  controversy  ?  Or,  to  illustrate  the 
general  question  in  a  more  specific  form  of  inquiry, 
What  shall  individuals  and  churches  do  with  the  decree 
of  a  Congregational  council?  In  reply  we  must  say, 
that,  if  the  decree  does  not  call  upon  them  for  any 
course  of  action,  they  can  fitly  do  nothing  with  it,  except 
carefully  to  note  its  existence,  and  then  to  remember 
it  as  contributing  one  item,  of  larger  or  smaller  impor- 
tance, to  the  common-law  funci  of  the  churches.  This 
particular  decision,  then,  becomes  a  precedent  to  be 
quoted,  not  for  perpetual  control,  but  for  continuous 
advice  in  forming  and  issuing  other  subsequent  decisions. 
But  if  the  decree  of  the  council  call  for  action  by  cer- 
tain individuals  or  churches,  it  is  the  duty  of  those 


LBCT.  IX.]  RECEPTION   OF   ADVICE.  301 

individuals  and  churches,  thus  called  upon  for  action, 
more  intimately  than  others  to  consider  such  decree. 
They  must  receive  the  decision  of  the  council  addressed 
them,  whether  it  come  in  the  form  of  advice,  or  request, 
or  exhortation,  or  rebuke,  or  admonition,  as  presump- 
tively the  true  word  of  the  Lord  to  their  souls.  They 
must  consider  it  without  prejudice  against  it :  nay,  they 
must  consider  it  with  prejudice  in  its  favor.  They  are 
right  in  presuming  that  the  judgment  of  their  brethren, 
brought  by  good  motives  together,  and  desiring  to 
render  for  them  sound  judgment,  is  better  than  their 
own  unaided  judgment.  Only  in  case  that  the  decision 
of  the  council  plainly  appear  to  be  vitiated  by  untruth- 
fulness or  uncharitableness,  may  they  quickly  put  it 
aside ;  and,  even  in  this  case,  only  when  they  have  sig- 
nified to  their  brethren  and  to  the  world  their  reasonable 
grounds  for  refusing  to  consider  further  such  a  decision. 
If  the  decision  of  the  council,  indeed,  come  very  close 
to  them,  they  may  well  prepare  themselves  for  more 
careful  searching  of  themselves  and  of  it  together  by 
a  day  of  fasting  and  prayer.  They  must  seek  to  see 
light  in  the  divine  light.  They  must  seek  for  light 
until  they  have  clear  light.  They  must  use  all  means 
to  see  matters  in  uniformity  among  themselves,  and  in 
accord  with  the  brethren  from  whom  the  word  comes 
to  them.  If  it  be  possible,  by  any  right  means,  within 
any  reasonable  period  of  time,  to  make  the  judgment 
of  the  council  their  own  judgment,  they  must  rejoice  to 
have  it  so ;  must  signify  to  all  their  penitence,  or  faith, 
or  humility,  or  charity,  as  the  case  may  especially  re- 
quire. But,  if  all  means  fail  for  securing  in  their  minds 
a  judgment  corresponding  to  the  one  rendered  by  the 
council,  they  must  regretfully  and  frankly  signify  the 
effort  they  have  made  and  their  reasons  for  failing  in 


302  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

the  effort.  Such  use  of  the  result  of  Congregational 
councils  will  give  them  abundant  force.  Such  is  the 
only  Christian  and  Congregational  use  for  the  decree  of 
a  council.  More  force  in  a  more  noble  and  concrete 
form  of  manifestation  than  this  it  is  not  rightly  per- 
mitted for  human  ecclesiastical  tribunals  to  secure.  It 
is  reported  that  a  minister  belonging  to  the  majority 
who  had  just  pushed  through  a  resolution  in  a  certain 
ecclesiastical  body  rex3lied  to  the  inquiry  of  a  layman,  as 
to  what  had  been  done,  I  presume  rubbing  his  hands 
with  the  glee  of  victory,  "  We  have  it  all  settled."  — 
"  Settled  !  "  said  his  lay-brother.  "  What  have  you  set- 
tled ?  Have  you  settled  me  ?  "  The  concrete  ultimatum 
of  Congregationalism  is  to  be  found  only  in  the  declara- 
tion of  the  absolute  truth:  this  declaration  must  be 
sought  in  all  means,  and  is  never  the  mere  verbal  pro- 
nouncement of  any  council  or  synod. 

All  the  truths  to  which  attention  has  just  been  called, 
as  concerning  the  Congregational  council  or  synod  in 
the  stricter  sense  of  those  words,  hold  equally  good,  so 
far  as  I  am  able  to  discover,  with  respect  to  every  form 
of  the  standing  council.  Consociations,  State  Conven- 
tions and  Conferences,  and  even  a  National  Synod,  are 
not  uncongregational,  if  they  originate  freely  and  fairly 
from  the  churches,  and  if  they  conform  with  the  prin- 
ciples already  set  forth  as  characteristic  of  our  church 
order.  The  seeming  conflict  between  the  declaration 
of  the  Cambridge  Platform,^  that  synods  "  cannot  exer- 
cise church  censures  in  way  of  discipline,  nor  any  other 
act  of  church  authority  or  jurisdiction,"  and  the  practice 
which  grew  up  in  accordance  with  its  other  declaration, 
"  It  belongeth  unto  synods  and  councils  to  debate  and 
determine    controversies   of   faith    and    cases   of   con- 

1  Chap.  xvi.  sect.  4. 


LECT.  IX,]  FOEMS   OF   STANDING  COUNCILS.  303 

science,"  has  marked  all  our  history  hitherto.  This 
conflict  it  is  which  has  largely  led  to  the  more  debatable 
uses  of  our  standing  councils.  The  early  fathers  of  New 
England  were  favorable  to  consociation.  They  used  the 
term  to  denote  that  a  number  of  churches  conveniently 
situated  "  come  to  an  explicit  agreement  of  church 
communion,  and  settle  the  mode  of  carrying  it  into 
effect."  1  "  Consociation  of  churches,"  say  the  members 
of  the  synod  of  Boston  in  1662,  "  is  their  mutual  and 
solemn  agreement  to  exercise  communion,  in  such  acts 
as  aforesaid,  amongst  themselves,  with  special  reference 
to  those  churches  which  by  Providence  are  planted  in 
a  convenient  vicinity,  though  with  liberty  reserved  with- 
out offence  to  make  use  of  others,  as  the  nature  of  the 
case  or  the  advantage  of  opportunity  may  lead  there- 
unto." As  a  matter  of  fact,  a  very  considerable  por- 
tion of  all  the  Congregational  churches  in  the  country 
are  now  in  some  form  consociated :  they  have,  that  is, 
standing  forms  of  communion  with  one  another,  of  which 
forms  they  have  agreed,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  and 
in  various  ways,  to  avail  themselves.  Especially  in  the 
West  has  one  or  another  form  of  consociation  grown 
out  of  the  workings  of  the  so-called  Plan  of  Union. 

It  would  be  hard  indeed  to  show  why  churches  of 
Christ  may  not,  if  charity  and  veracity  permit,  associate 
themselves  in  these  various  ways.  The  principle  of  the 
autonomy  of  the  local  churches  is  frequently  alleged 
against  the  practice  of  consociation  and  other  forms  of 
the  standing  council.  But  this  very  principle,  within 
certain  limits,  secures  to  the  local  churches  the  privi- 
lege of  adopting,  at  their  discretion,  any  one  of  the  avail- 
able forms  of  communing  with  one  another.  How, 
indeed,  after  giving  full  recognition  to  this  principle, 
1  See  article,  by  Dr.  Leavitt,  in  the  Christian  Spectator,  1831,  p.  370. 


304  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

shall  any  one  proceed  to  argue  that  any  church,  or  com- 
munity of  churches,  living  in  the  enjoyment  of  self- 
control,  may  not  yield  up  to  the  common  interest  the 
expression,  through  an  organized  body  of  ministers  and 
laymen,  of  this  their  inalienable  right  of  self-control? 
The  churches  are  autonomous  in  instituting  ways  of 
communion  and  common  endeavor,  as  truly  as  in  any 
of  their  activities. 

It  cannot  be  denied,  however,  that  many  snares  are 
likely  to  be  hidden  in  the  path  along  which  the  churches 
must  travel  to  reach  the  results  of  these  methods  of 
delegated  control.  The  very  words,  quoted  above,  in 
which  the  synod  of  1662  utters  its  opinion,  so  favorable 
to  the  consociating  of  churches,  are  calculated  to  render 
us  wary  of  some  of  these  snares. 

The  source  of  the  authority  of  the  consociation  or 
convention  is  always  in  the  mutual  and  solemn  agree- 
ment which  the  particular  churches  make  to  exercise 
communion  among  themselves  in  a  specified  way.  To 
suppose  that  this  agreement  can  be  made  so  as  to  cover 
every  act  of  the  standing  council  (whatever  that  act 
may  be),  and  so  as  to  oblige  the  consociating  church, 
without  subsequent  consideration,  and  under  penalties 
of  admonition  or  excision,  to  do  what  this  council 
decree,  is  indeed  to  contradict  the  principle  of  the  free- 
dom of  the  churches.  The  authority  of  the  churches  as 
consociated  with  respect  to  one  another  as  particular 
churches  remains  only  a  delegated  authority.  Every 
act  of  the  consociation  or  convention  may  be  passed 
freely  under  review  by  every  particular  church  in  the 
body,  and  accepted  or  rejected  according  to  the  best 
judgment  of  that  church.  But  the  consociating  church 
should  treat  the  advice  or  decree  of  the  standing  council 
(consociation)  of  which   it  is  a  member  in  the   same 


LECT.  IX.]  LIBERTY  IN   CONSOCIATION.  305 

respectful  and  considerate  and  prayerful  manner  which 
has  already  been  commended  in  the  case  of  the  council 
proper.  Nor  should  those  churches  which  abide  by  the 
decision  of  the  majority  in  the  consociation  or  con- 
vention, for  that  reason  alone  regard  the  dissenting 
minority,  even  although  it  consist  of  only  one  church, 
as  separated  from  their  communion. 

Moreover,  this  declaration  of  the  synod  of  1662  re- 
serves liberty  for  every  consociating  church  without 
offence  to  make  use  of  other  churches  in  communion 
rather  than  of  those  with  whom  it  is  consociated,  and  of 
other  ways  of  communion  rather  than  of  those  provided 
in  the  consociation.  Any  church  may  take  advice,  al- 
though itself  a  member  of  the  quasi  standing  council, 
from  churches  not  connected  with  the  council ;  and, 
when  it  thus  takes  advice,  the  sister-churches  consoci- 
ated have  no  right  to  take  offence. 

The  difficulties  that  encompass  these  ways  in  which 
the  particular  churches  may  commune  with  one  an- 
other, as  well  as  the  power  which  resides  in  Christian 
charity  and  good  sense  to  overcome  the  difficulties,  have 
been  exemplified  in  the  consociations  of  Connecticut 
and  in  the  conventions  of  the  North-western  States. 
The  language  of  the  Saybrook  Constitution  may  be 
regarded  as  designedly  ambiguous  :  at  any  rate,  it  could 
not  have  seemed  to  the  two  parties,  in  its  interpretation, 
any  more  distinctively  favorable  to  each  of  the  conflict- 
ing views,  if  it  had  been  designed  to  express  them  both. 
From  the  very  first,  and  even  by  its  framers,  it  was  di- 
versely interpreted.  This  fact  illustrates  one  of  the 
dangers  of  every  form  of  the  standing  council.  Two 
parties  are  liable  to  arise,  according  as  the  stricter  or 
more  liberal  interpretation  of  its  provisions  and  design 
is  adopted  by  different  ministers  and  churches.     Then 


306  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

the  one  party  calls  tlie  other  by  the  opprobrious  and 
deadly  name  of  Independency ;  the  party  of  the  second 
part  retorts  by  accusing  the  party  of  the  first  part  of 
Presbyterianizing ;  and  each  concludes  that  the  other  is 
schismatical.  In  the  result  we  have  a  further  illustra- 
tion of  the  truth  that  nothing  divides  Congregational- 
ists  more  than  the  set  effort  to  be  formally  united. 

The  same  mischief  is  likely  to  arise  in  the  creation 
of  a  new  form  of  the  standing  council,  to  be  called  the 
National  Council.  We  have  no  right  to  underrate  the 
risk  of  this  mischief,  however  favorable  we  may  be 
to  the  National  Council.  Nothing  can  seem,  abstractly 
considered,  more  helpful  to  the  due  manifestation  of 
the  real  unity  which  exists  amongst  all  the  particular 
visible  churches  called  Congregational  than  to  have 
a  fraternal  gathering  of  all  their  representatives  in 
the  entire  nation.  These  representatives  are  to  be  con- 
ceived of,  of  course,  as  coming  from  east,  west,  north, 
and  south,  and  all  amicably  and  ingenuously  consulting 
over  the  interests  of  their  church  order.  Those  inter- 
ests, as  they  are  represented  in  each  locality,  and  then 
gathered  together  for  a  more  complete  and  impressive 
representation,  may  well  be  considered  in  a  great  and 
representative  assembly.  And  do  we  not  feel  the  need 
of  a  more  organic  expression  of  our  unity  ?  Do  we  not, 
or  at  least  do  not  many  of  our  representative  men, 
even  suppose  that  the  centralizing  and  centripetal  ten- 
dency must  be  evoked  to  counteract  those  centrifugal 
and  dissipating  tendencies  which  are  working  our  dis- 
organization and  ill  fame  before  the  other  denomina- 
tions? Why,  then,  should  not  this  standing  council 
called  National  aid  in  organizing  and  expressing  the 
unity  of  our  common  life  ?  Let  us  at  once  grant  the 
possibility  of  such  aid  from  such  an  organization.     Let 


LECT.  IX.]  A   NATI0I5"AL   COUKCIL.  307 

the  National  Council  proceed  in  its  beneficial  work  of 
centralizing.  Let  it  promulgate  a  new  declaration  of 
faith.  Let  it  advise  all  our  great  benevolent  boards  as 
to  the  will  of  the  churches.  Let  it  even  arrange  for 
a  stricter  separation  between  the  order  of  the  laity  and 
the  order  of  the  clergy.  Let  it  define  the  bounds  of 
orthodoxy,  and  practically  assert  the  view  that  Con- 
gregationalism is  one  among  many  denominations. 
What  then  ?  Some  of  the  pastors  now  supposed  to  be 
Congregational  may  not  admire  the  centralizing  ten- 
dency, and  may  remain  aloof  from  the  so-called  Na- 
tional Council.  Are  they,  either  by  suspicion  or  de  facto, 
to  be  set  into  a  class  apart,  so  that  there  shall  be  two 
kinds  of  Congregational  pastors,  —  viz.,  those  who  will 
have  all  united,  whether  all  will  be  united  or  not ;  and 
those  who  will  not  be  united  with  all  the  others,  whether 
the  majority  will  them  to  be  united  or  not  ?  The 
benevolent  boards  may  not  take  the  advice  of  the 
National  Council:  they  may  prefer  to  fall  back  upon 
the  advice  of  the  churches  rendered  in  some  less  formal 
way.  Are  we,  then,  to  have  two  kinds  of  benevolent 
societies  called  Congregational,  —  one  which  accepts  the 
advice  of  the  National  Council,  whether  it  deems  the 
advice  sound  or  not ;  and  one  which  does  not  accept 
such  advice,  even  when  it  deems  it  to  be  most  sound? 
Some  of  the  pastors  and  churches  now  called  Congre- 
gational may  not  choose  to  adopt  the  creed,  or  may 
even  feel  called  upon  to  signify  their  rejection  of  it. 
Shall  we,  then,  have  two  kinds  of  Congregational 
churches,  —  one  which  is  orthodox,  because  it  has  ac- 
cepted the  national  creed ;  and  one  which  is  suspected 
of  heresy,  because  it  has  refused  to  yield  acceptance  ? 
Shall  we,  perhaps,  end  by  having  another  denomination, 
as  some  are  even  now  most  thoughtlessly  and  unkindly 


308  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

urging  the  result  ?  Surely  no  advocate  of  tlie  National 
Council  definitely  proposes  such  issues ;  and  yet  it  is 
not  easy  to  answer  these  questions  previous  to  the 
requisite  experience  which  is  their  answer.  As  for 
ourselves,  we  have  a  moderate  amount  of  good  hope 
concerning  the  benefit  of  a  National  Council.  But  so 
long  as  the  work  of  centralizing  begins  with  the  cry  of 
alarm,  the  crack  of  the  whip,  the  announcement  of  set 
determination  to  drive  measures  in  spite  of  remon- 
strance, and  regardless  of  objections,  and  so  long  as 
the  work  of  opposing  centralization  continues  to  consist 
in  another  cry  of  alarm,  a  wild  scurrying  toward  the 
solitudes  before  the  crack  of  the  whip,  and  the  an- 
nouncement of  a  determination  to  keep  entirely  clear 
of  the  course  along  which  this  team  of  centralizing 
forces  is  to  be  driven,  we  may  wisely  remain  quiet,  and 
remind  ourselves  of  the  lessons  of  our  past  experience. 
Nothing  else  so  tends  to  divide  Congregationalists  as 
the  determination  at  all  hazards  to  be  united.  The 
tendency  to  create  parties  and  partisan  feeling  in  the 
churches  belongs  to  every  form  of  the  communion  of 
churches  through  the  standing  council.  The  risk  is 
that  men  with  high  convictions  of  the  necessity  of 
instituting  their  favorite  measures  for  the  relief  of  diffi- 
culties and  the  correction  of  abuses  will  carry  these 
measures  with  a  high  hand.  Schism  is  the  inevitable 
result.  The  attempt  at  such  communion  brings  the 
partial  or  total  loss  of  a  real  communion. 

The  relative  unimportance  of  the  lay-element  is 
another  snare  in  which  all  standing  councils  are  liable 
to  be  taken.  John  Wise  informs  us,  that  at  the  synod 
of  1679,  some  of  the  churches  having  sent  their  pastors 
without  lay-delegates,  the  synod  "would  not  allow 
those  pastors  to  sit  with  them  until  they  had  prevailed 


LECT.  IX.]  BENEFITS   OF  CONSOCIATION.  309 

with  their  churches  to  send-brethren  also."  He  warns 
the  ministers  not  to  consider  themselves  as  "  a  distinct 
estate  from  the  churches ; "  assures  them,  that,  in  the 
calling  of  councils,  the  churches  are  their  superiors, 
and,  "  upon  a  severe  interpretation  of  their  canons,"  the 
churches  may,  if  they  please,  leave  the  ministers  at 
home.^ 

Whatever  may  be  observed  and  predicted  concerning 
the  hazard  to  Congregational  principles  of  all  forms  of 
consociating  churches  does  not,  however,  invalidate  the 
privilege,  or  disprove  the  benefit.  All  these  forms,  even 
those  which  have  most  nearly  resembled  the  presbytery 
and  synod,  have,  upon  the  whole,  proved  helpful  ways 
of  expressing  and  energizing  the  united  activities  of  the 
particular  visible  churches.  They  all  do  not  succeed 
in  contravening  the  quaint  declaration-  of  Davenport : 
"  The  Catholic  church  is  not  visible  as  a  church,  and 
the  Church  that  is  visible  is  not  Catholic."  But  they 
may  all  be  made  to  serve  in  the  direction  of  rendering 
visible  the  holy  catholic  church.  Some  of  the  most 
truly  fraternal,  liberal,  and  Congregational  of  men, 
have  lived  happily  and  usefully  together  in  the  more 
strict  of  these  ways  of  communion ;  and  not  a  little  of 
ecclesiasticism  has  sheltered  itself  under  the  plea  for  a 
freedom  from  that  very  evil.  The  constitution  of  the 
district  conventions  and  of  the  General  Convention  of 
Wisconsin  was  formed  under  the  workings  of  the  so- 
called  Plan  of  Union,  and  is  a  shockingly  Presbyterian- 
izing  document ;  but  I  can  testify,  from  more  than  eight 
years  of  happy  experience  in  this  fraternity,  my  belief 
that  a  more  genuinely  liberal  and  fraternal  body  of 
Congregational  ministers  and  laymen  is  nowhere  to  be 
found. 

1  See  Quarrel  of  the  Churches,  part  ii.  sect.  1. 


310  PKESrCIPLES   OF   CHUKCH  POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

We  may,  then,  approve  the  communion  and  consocia- 
tion of  churclies,  as  does  Davenport,  while,  at  the  same 
time,  adding  some  cautions  from  Mr.  Cotton's  "  Keys  " 
and  from  "Mr.  Shepheard's  and  Mr.  Allen's  Defence 
of  the  Nine  Positions,  in  Answer  to  Mr.  Ball."  ^  From 
the  "  Caution  "  of  the  last-named  gentlemen  we  quote 
these  words :  "  Association  of  divers  particular  Churches, 
we  hold  needful,  as  well  as  the  combination  of  Members 
into  one  Church ;  yet  so,  as  there  be  no  Schism  of  one 
from  another,  nor  usurpation  of  one  over  another ;  that 
either  one  should  deprive  the  rest  of  peace,  by  Schism, 
or  many  should  deprive  any  one  of  its  power  by  usur- 
pation. .  .  .  Consociation  of  Churches  we  would  have 
cumulative  (not  in  words,  but  in  deed)  to  strengthen 
the  power  of  particular  Churches :  Not  privative,  to  take 
away  any  power,  which  they  had  from  the  gift  of  Christ 
before.  For,  as  on  the  one  side,  it  may  seem  strange, 
that  one  Church  offending  should  have  no  means  of  Cure 
by  the  conceived  power  of  many ;  so,  on  the  other  side, 
the  danger  may  appear  as  great,  and  frequently  falls 
out,  that,  when  many  Churches  are  scandalous,  one 
innocent  church  may  be  hurt  by  the  Usurpation  of  all. 
And  hence  we  see  not,  but  that  Fraternal  Consociation 
is  the  best  Medicine  to  heal  the  Wounds  of  both." 

It  remains  that  we  should  briefly  consider  those  ways 
of  the  communion  of  churches  which  have  been  classi- 
fied under  the  terms  "  indirect "  and  "  formal."  The  indi- 
rect and  formal  ways  of  the  application  of  the  principle 
of  the  communion  of  churches  comprise,  besides  those 
societies  and  boards  organized  for  benevolent  enter- 
prises which  will  receive  a  measure  of  special  attention, 
all  the  various  organizations  that  are  of  distinctively 
clerical   characteristics.      The   so-called  Association  of 

1  Power  of  Congregational  Churches,  p.  146,  f. 


LECT.  IX.]  ASSOCIATION   OF   IVnNISTEIlS.  311 

Ministers  is  the  typical  form  of  such  organizations. 
Many  of  our  conventions,  conferences,  and  consocia- 
tions, however,  show  a  marked  liability  to  lapse  into 
this  form,  and  become  really  and  practically  little  more 
than  associations  of  ministers. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  of  course,  that  ministers  have 
the  same  right  as  other  classes  of  society,  based  upon 
grounds  of  law  and  common  morals,  to  form  themselves 
into  fraternal  bunds  and  various  forms  of  communion. 
There  is,  perhaps,  as  little  doubt  that  such  associations 
have  a  right  to  existence,  based  upon  grounds  of  pure 
Christian  morality,  whenever  it  appears  that  they  may 
be  made  useful  to  the  churches  and  to  the  general  cause 
of  Christian  progress.  What  however,  is  the  relation 
which  these  associations  sustain  to  the  communion  of 
the  churches  ?  It  is  apparent  at  once,  that  this  relation 
cannot  well  be  otherwise  than  practically  most  intimate. 
Of  necessity,  the  terms  of  admission  to  the  ministerial 
association  must  have  much  to  do  with  the  terms 
exacted  by  the  churches  for  admission  into  the  order 
of  their  pastorate ;  and  this  will  happen  without  any 
formal  agreement  of  the  churches  to  place  themselves 
under  ministerial  tutelage  for  instruction  as  to  the  men 
fit  for  their  offices.  The  candidate  who  has  been  ex- 
amined and  licensed  by  the  clerical  association  is  com- 
mended as  fit  to  the  churches :  he  is  in  the  place  of  the 
physician  or  lawyer  who  has  obtained  his  full  certificate 
of  professional  attainment.  The  man  who  has  failed  to 
gain  membership  in  the  association,  or  who  has,  for  any 
reason,  lost  a  membership  once  gained,  cannot  stand 
before  the  churches  upon  equally  advantageous  terms 
as  a  candidate  for  the  pastoral  office.  However  much 
we  may  deny  the  theory  of  any  jurisdiction  or  authority 
over  the  particular  churches  or  their  councils,  as  be- 


312  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

longing  to  or  emanating  from  the  ministerial  body, 
practically  such  authority  and  jurisdiction  will  be  large- 
ly recognized.  Doubtless  this  informal  recognition  is, 
on  the  "whole,  most  beneficial. 

It  is  necessary,  then,  that  we  should  at  once  place 
these  ministerial  bodies,  so  far  as  they  have  influence 
upon  the  relations  of  the  particular  churches,  on  their 
proper  basis  of  principle.  If  they  are  indirect  and  yet 
formal  ways  of  the  communion  of  churches,  —  and  such, 
to  a  large  extent,  they  must  necessarily  be,  —  they  are 
governed  by  the  principles  already  enunciated.  Gen- 
uine love  for  Christ's  people,  and  free  but  veracious 
expression  of  such  love,  must  motive  all  the  measures 
of  these  ecclesiastical  bodies.  To  secure  such  motive 
is  of  more  importance  than  to  organize  the  clerical  force 
of  the  churches  into  more  compacted  and  expressive 
forms. 

The  history  of  the  formation  of  such  distinctively 
ministerial  societies  in  our  church  order  is  very  inter- 
esting and  instructive.  We  have  already  seen  the  truth 
of  history,  that  two  tendencies  —  the  one  toward  the 
exclusive  self-control  of  the  particular  churches,  and 
the  other  toward  the  more  formal  use  of  the  principle 
of  the  communion  of  churches  for  the  purpose  of  con- 
trolling those  churches — have  been  struggling  together 
from  the  beginning  until  now.  We  are  at  this  point 
called  upon  to  notice  another  truth  of  history.  The 
tendency  toward  centralizing  the  forces  of  our  church 
order  has  repeatedly  suffered  defeat  from  the  spirit  of 
independence  which  is  in  the  particular  churches  them- 
selves. Now,  no  body  of  men,  whenever  strongly  advo- 
cating and  pushing  this  centralizing  of  forces,  can  fail 
to  come  into  conflict  with  this  spirit  of  independency. 
This  spirit  of  independency  is  now  in  all  the  Christian 


LECT.  IX.]      HISTORY  OF  MINISTERIAL  ASSOCIATIONS.    313 

churches,  of  whatever  church  order  or  denominational 
name.  Not  to  acknowledge  it  is  either  ignorantly  to 
overlook  it,  or  intelligently  to  propose  to  check  it.  To 
acknowledge  it  should  lead  us  intelligently  to  brook 
and  guide  it.  At  any  rate,  this  spirit  of  self-control 
is,  I  repeat,  firmly  seated  in  our  churches ;  it  has  not 
yet  been  exorcised ;  it  will  not  easily  be  cast  down  or 
cast  out.  When,  then,  the  centralizing  tendency,  the 
tendency  which  seeks  for  some  more  compacted  and 
seemingly  forceful  forms  of  controlling  evils,  meets 
this  counter  tendency, — the  spirit  of  independence, 
which  is  wise  or  unwise,  which  is  crude  self-will  or 
intelligent  freedom,  as  the  case  maybe,  —  its  custom- 
ary and  inevitable  resort  is  to  ecclesiasticism.  What 
the  churches,  led  by  their  pastors,  do  not  accomplish 
or  will  not  undertake,  the  clergy  as  a  class  may  be 
induced  to  try.  This  tendency,  therefore,  strives  to 
obtain  enlarged  expression  for  itself  by  enlarging  the 
powers  of  the  clergy.  The  history  of  our  church  order 
will  especially  show,  what  the  general  history  of  the 
church  will  confirm,  that  the  effort  to  express  the  cen- 
tralizing force  as  a  rule  takes  the  form  of  ecclesiasti- 
cism. In  the  history  of  Congregationalism  the  effort 
to  tone  up  the  slackening  strings  of  our  harp  has  inva- 
riably resulted  in  a  song  to  the  praises  of  some  form 
of  the  clerical  association.  These  praises  have  gen- 
erally been  preceded  or  accompanied  by  lamentations 
bestowed  upon  the  weakness  and  unsatisfactoriness  of 
so-called  mutual  councils.  The  assumption  has  repeat- 
edly been  made,  that  if  we  could  have  some  means  of 
expressing  force  through  a  more  distinctively  clerical 
body,  like  the  presbytery  or  synod  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  then  we  should  see  more  results  of  genuine  and 
beneficent  and  rational  force. 


314  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

To  illustrate  what  has  just  been  said  let  us  take  but 
a  glance  at  tlie  history  of  ministerial  associations.  As 
early  as  1633  a  number  of  ministers  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  agreed  to  meet  together  once  a  fortnight  for  con- 
ference concerning  the  interests  of  the  churches.  Mr. 
Skelton  and  the  erratic  Roger  Williams,  who  were  then 
ministers  of  the  church  at  Salem  (although  the  latter 
had  not  been  formally  inducted  into  his  office),  held 
aloof  from  this  meeting,  out  of  fear  that  it  might  grow 
into  a  presbytery,  or  some  form  of  ecclesiastical  tribunal. 
The  others,  then,  all  decidedly  and  unanimously  ex- 
pressed themselves  of  the  opinion  that  no  church  or 
person  can  have  any  power  over  another  church ;  and  in 
fact  they  scrupulously  abstained  in  these  meetings  from 
the  slightest  show  of  a  disposition  to  exercise  jurisdic- 
tion over  the  churches.  Indeed,  there  are  few  signs  of 
any  marked  tendency  to  constitute  a  semi-juridical  body 
out  of  the  Congregational  ministry  until  a  century  and 
a  half  later.  The  germinal  and  tender  stages  in  growth 
of  this  tendency  are  thus  described  by  Rev.  John 
Wise,^  whose  words  I  quote  at  length  as  most  amusing 
and  instructive,  but  without  expressing  confidence  in 
the  perfect  accuracy  of  the  view  espoused  by  this 
writer:  "About  thirty  years  ago,  more  or  less,"  de- 
clares Mr.  Wise,  "  there  was  no  appearance  of  the  asso- 
ciations of  pastors  in  these  Colonies,  and  in  some  parts 
and  places  there  is  none  yet.  But  after  the  country 
had  suffered  much  in  the  slaughters  and  depredations 
committed  by  the  heathen,  and  by  some  other  afflic- 
tions, the  neighboring  ministers  in  some  counties  met 
to  pray  together,  &c.,  and  for  no  other  intent  that  I 
ever  knew  or  heard  of.  But  after  they  had  continued 
their  meetings  for  some  years,  and  others,  following  the 

1  Quarrel  of  the  Churches,  part  i.  sect.  viii. 


LECT.  IX.]     HISTORY  OF  MINISTERIAL  ASSOCIATIOKS.   315 

example,  began  to  convene  together  and  communicate 
cases,  as  best  suited  each  person,  and  at  last  perceiving 
they  were  almost  gotten  into  a  classical  form  before* 
they  tho't  of  it,  they  began  to  give  their  meetings 
the  specious  titles  of  classes,  associations,  and  ecclesi- 
astical conventions,  &c.,  as  securely  as  though  these 
titles  were  a  fruit  growing  out  of  our  own  constitution, 
and  by  degrees  began  to  dream  that  they  were  really 
and  de  jure  what  their  new  titles  and  late  custom  had 
made  them  only  de  facto ;  and  time  increased  their 
inclinations  and  purposes  to  compass  a  more  formal 
and  compleat  settlement.  It  is  certain  their  opportu- 
nities were  considerable,  the  keys  of  the  church-treas- 
ures being  put  into  their  hands.  The  more  the  main 
point  is  studied,  the  more  glory  appears  to  feed  men's 
ambition,  like  the  impression  by  the  eye  on  our  great 
parents  in  paradice  (Gen.  iii.  8).  The  tree  was  pleas- 
ant to  the  eyes,  a  tree  to  be  desired.  Alas!  alas! 
empire  and  supream  rule  is  a  glorious  thing.  Pareere 
suhjectis  et  dehellare  superbos  is  a  very  royal  business. 
Now  this  conceit  did  begin  pretty  much  to  predominate, 
especially  in  some  gentlemen  that  were  inclin'd  to 
Presbyteraiu  principles,  men  of  worth  and  learning, 
who,  improving  their  advantages  of  sense  and  influ- 
ence to  intreague  others  of  a  lower  set  of  intellectuals, 
&c.,  bro't  the  business  so  near  to  a  conclusion,  as  you 
find  it  in  the  last  recited  proposal,  wherein  you  have  the 
main  of  this  history  contained,  like  Homer's  Illiads,  in 
a  nutshell."  The  proposal  here  referred  to  is  certainly 
significant,  and  reads  as  follows:  "  8*^'^,  And  finally, 
That  ministers  disposed  to  associate. endeavour,  in  the 
most  efficacious  manner  they  can,  to  prevail  with  such 
ministers  as  unreasonably  neglect  such  meetings  with 
their  brethren  in  their  proper  associations,   that  they 


316  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

would  not  expose  themselves  to  the  iuconveniencies  that 
such  neglects  cannot  but  be  attended  withal."  Here, 
indeed,  is  fraternal  communion  with  a  vengeance.  "  But 
to  make  short,  and  conclude  my  story,"  continues  Mr. 
Wise,  "  when  they  had  thus  far  advanced  and  ripened 
their  design,  out  comes  these  proposals,  like  Aaron's 
golden  calf,  the  fifth  day  of  November,  1705."  When 
we  remember  that  the  most  significant  previous  pro- 
posal by  the  clergy  to  take  matters  into  their  own 
hands  was  perhaps  the  very  modest  one  of  Increase 
Mather,  with  nine  other  ministers,  in  1699,  and  that 
this  proposal  by  these  ministers  simply  comprised  their 
own  determination  and  advice  to  pass  certain  candidates 
for  the  occupancy  of  their  pulpits  through  a  solemn 
examination,  and  when  we  consider  that  these  sixteen 
proposals  of  the  Boston  Association  which  our  author 
combated  went  to  the  length  of  giving  the  ministerial 
body  power  to  direct  when  a  council  should  be  con- 
vened, power  to  act  themselves  with  delegates  from 
the  consociated  churches  as  a  standing  council,  and 
virtual  power  to  dictate  pastors  to  the  consociated 
churches,  and  even  to  discipline  those  churches,  we 
cannot  wonder  that  the  ardent  "pastor  of  a  church  at 
Ipswich "  waxed  somewhat  sarcastical  and  satirical 
against  them.  The  copious  flow  of  acid  from  his  pen 
quite  neutralized  the  sixteen  proposals.  To  this  affair 
the  author  of  the  "Historical  Sketch"  ascribes  that 
custom  of  disavowing  "  ecclesiastical  authority,"  which 
has  traditionally  been  common  in  all  our  ministerial 
bodies.  The  examination  and  approbation  of  candi- 
dates for  licensure  by  associations  of  ministers  is  the 
only  measure  proposed  among  these  sixteen,  which  has 
survived  the  rattling  fire  of  the  Ipswich  pastor.  This 
custom   of    licensure   by   clerical   associations  became 


LECT.  IX.]     HISTORY  OF  MINISTERIAL  ASSOCIATIONS.   317 

fixed  in  Massachusetts  in  the  latter  half  of  the  eio-h- 
teenth  century,  about  a  hundred  years  after  the  initia- 
tory action  of  Increase  Mather.  In  Connecticut  it  was 
provided  for  in  1708  by  the  Saybrook  Platform. 

The  history  of  a  similar  movement  to  increase  the 
authority  of  clerical  bodies,  as  this  movement  was  con- 
nected with  the  Saybrook  Constitution,  in  Connecticut, 
cannot  now  be  repeated.  But  how  strong  this  move- 
ment was,  we  may  form  some  judgment  from  the  lan- 
guage used  by  the  meeting  held  at  Stratfield,  March  16, 
1709.  It  was  there  resolved,  that  "the  pastors  have 
power,  with  the  consent  of  the  messengers  of  our  churches 
.  .  .  authoritatively/  and  decisively  to  determine  ecclesias- 
tical affairs."  The  power  of  issuing  ^'•sentence  of  excommu- 
nication "  against  individuals  and  churches  was  claimed 
for  itself  by  this  Fairfield  Consociation  :  this  power  was 
practically  to  be  given  into  the  hands  of  the  clergy.^ 

A  still  further  attempt  to  bestow  strict  ecclesiastical 
authority  upon  clerical  bodies  was  submitted  to  the  Gen- 
eral Association  of  Massachusetts  in  1815.  The  attempt 
failed ;  and  the  work  of  the  committee  of  May  9,  1844, 
reported  in  the  form  of  a  "  Manual  of  Church  Principles 
and  Discipline,"  was  scarcely  more  successful  than  each 
previous  similar  attempt.  In  illustration  of  a  truth 
already  noticed,  we  remark  that  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee of  1815  enumerates  five  reasons  why  mutual 
councils  cannot  remedy  the  evils  which  they  propose  to 
remedy  by  giving  a  stricter  ecclesiastical  authority  to 
bodies  practically  clerical.  The  failure  of  mutual  coun- 
cils and  the  need  of  more  centralizing  force  convinced 
this  committee  of  1815,  of  the  expediency  of  reviving 
the  sixteen  proposals  which  John  Wise  had  ridiculed 
more  than  a  century  before.     A  certain  layman,  in  a 

i  Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  p.  42. 


318  PEESrCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

controversial  pamphlet,^  gives  to  this  proposal  for  a  new 
system  of  church  government  the  following  lengthy 
but  unattractive  title :  "  A  scheme  for  effecting  the 
secession  of  certain  churches  from  the  old  Congrega- 
tional Church,  and  the  establishment  of  a  new  form  of 
church  government  for  the  seceders,  under  the  title  of 
the  Massachusetts  Grand  Association." 

In  closing  this  brief  and  unsatisfactory  treatment  of 
the  indu'cct  and  informal  means  of  communion  which 
the  churches  have  through  distinctively  clerical  associa- 
tions, let  these  few  truths  of  history  be  impressed  upon 
our  minds. 

The  genius  and  history  of  our  church  order  are  totally 
opposed  to  every  form  of  ecclesiasticism,  especially  to 
that  form  which  bestows  authority  upon  the  clergy  as 
a  class.  No  minister  can,  otherwise  than  as  the  chosen 
officer  of  a  particular  church,  properly  institute  or  carry 
any  measure  for  the  control,  direct  or  indirect,  of  the 
particular  churches.  As  one  ordained  by  his  brethren, 
his  head  is  a  consecrated  head ;  and,  after  he  ceases  to 
be  an  officer  in  a  particular  church,  he  will  necessarily 
continue  to  receive,  what  he  will  wisely  refrain  from 
claiming,  a  superior  measure  of  confidence,  affection, 
and  influence,  as  one  who  has  administered  the  sacred 
ordinances,  and  served  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel. 
But  clerical  bodies  as  such  can  never  have  any  control, 
except  by  way  of  such  influence  as  the  churches  concede, 
without  undermining  the  principles  of  our  church  order. 
Even  the  custom  of  receiving  licensure  from  them  is  a 
matter  of  convenience,  and  conceded  fitness  of  means 
to  ends.  Moreover,  we  rejoice  to  believe,  that,  as  the 
kingdom  of  God  comes  more  and  more  perfectly  upon 

1  An  Inquiry  into  the  Right  to  change  the  Ecclesiastical  Constitution 
of  the  Congregational  Churches  of  Massachusetts. 


LECT,  IX.]  EVILS   OF   ECCLESIASTICISM.  319 

earth,  every  semblance  of  an  order  of  the  clergy  will 
more  and  more  disappear.  And  the  man  with  the  truest 
spirit  of  the  Christian  minister  will  be  the  gladdest  man 
of  all  to  see  all  the  Lord's  people  prophets  and  priests 
and  kings  before  the  Lord. 

Our  history  may  also  convince  us  that  there  is  no 
safeguard  against  any  form  of  evil  to  be  found  in  the 
exercise  of  authority  by  ecclesiastical  and  clerical 
bodies.  The  most  injurious  practical  mistake  made  in 
the  working  of  our  church  order  in  this  country  was  an 
affair  of  the  ministers.  The  Plan  of  Union  is  a  notable 
instance  of  the  ill  effects  which  may  follow  when  min- 
isterial meetings  take  upon  themselves  to  manage  affairs 
without  deferring  them  to  the  judgment  of  the  churches. 
This  plan  was  first  agreed  upon  by  the  General  Assem- 
bly of  the  Presbyterian  Church  and  the  General  Asso- 
ciation of  Connecticut,  in  1801:  it  was  subsequently 
adopted  by  the  General  Association  of  Massachusetts. 
The  compact,  although  made  by  the  latter  body  with  a 
disclaimer  of  jurisdiction  over  the  churches,  was  one 
which,  there  is  little  doubt,  these  associations  had  no 
right  to  make  at  all ;  and  there  is  less  doubt  that  the 
making  of  the  compact  caused  to  Congregationalism 
the  loss  of  many  hundred  churches  and  of  thousands  of 
individual  members. 

In  general  we  are  to  hold,  that,  whenever  the  central- 
izing forces  of  our  church  order  seem  to  demand  a  more 
energetic  expression  in  the  working  of  our  polity  (and 
times  of  such  demand  occur),  this  expression  should  be 
made  in  the  form  of  drawing  more  compactly  together 
the  particular  churches,  and  not  in  the  form  of  sepa- 
rating and  compacting  together  a  body  of  the  clergy. 
The  pastors  of  churches  must  lead  their  churches  to  a 
more  real  and  efficient  communion  with  one  another ; 


320  PRmCLPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.         [lect.  ix. 

the  ministers  are  not  to  suppose  that  a  more  real  and 
efficient  communion  can  come  to  the  churches  through 
any  increase  and  compacted  organizing  of  their  ministe- 
rial authority. 

In  a  closing  word  let  me  recall  the  thought  to  those 
pure,  holy,  and  nourishing  principles,  from  which  we 
started  in  our  excursion  over  rough  and  debatable 
grounds.  The  prayer  for  a  manifested  unity  amongst 
his  people  lies  still  upon  the  sacred  heart  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Were  he  not  our  now  glorified  Redeemer,  we 
might  even  fear  that  the  longing  for  this  consummation 
of  his  desire  would  weary  and  burden  that  sacred  heart : 
"  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but  for  them  also  which 
shall  believe  on  me  through  their  word ;  that  they  all 
may  be  one ;  as  thou.  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  thee, 
that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us:,  that  the  world  may 
believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me."  To  refuse  the  mani- 
festation of  this  union  for  which  Jesus  prayed,  and  to 
force  upon  others  divisive  forms  of  manifesting  a  union 
in  opinion  or  action  which  is  not  real,  are  alike  to  contra- 
vene this  holy  prayer.  Schism,  and  hierarchical  or  eccle- 
siastical systematizing,  engender  each  the  other ;  and 
both  are  together  to  vanish  when  the  Father  answers 
the  prayer  of  the  Son  by  causing  his  spirit  to  dominate 
the  entire  church. 


LECTURE  X. 

THE   SELF-PROPAGATION  OF  CONGREGATIONALISM. 

It  is  self-evident  that  the  principles,  the  consideration 
of  which  has  thus  far  been  kept  constantly  before  our 
minds,  must  have  very  important  practical  applications 
to  the  growth  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth.     Other 
systems  of  church  order,  even  those  which  give  narrow- 
est  scope    and  most  meagre  acknowledgment  to  these 
principles,  have,  indeed,  been  integral  parts  of  the  his- 
toric  manifestation   of  this  kingdom.     But  the  wider 
scope  and  more  generous  acknowledgment  of  the  prin- 
ciples  are  necessary  to  the  final  manifestation  of  the 
kingdom.     We  can  scarcely  trace  the  organic  develop- 
ment of  the  Church  of  Christ  from  his  day  until  the 
present,  without  admitting  that  this  development  was 
during  several  centuries  expressed  chiefly  in  the  hierar- 
chical system  of  Rome.      Nor  can  the  history  of  the 
Jewish  Church  be  studied  as  an  organic  whole  without 
admitting   the   fact   that  the  triumph  of  the  spirit  of 
hierarchy  in  that  church  did  not  utterly  check  its  gen- 
eral  development.      Several  of  those  elements  of  the 
true  church  polity  which  its  later  exhibition  professedly 
derives  from  the  New-Testament  churches,  these  New- 
Testament  churches  themselves  derived  from  the  Jewish 
Church.     Such  elements  of  Congregationalism  survived 
the  compression  and  stricture  which  the  Jewish  Church 

321 


322  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

felt  continuously,  and  in  increasing  measure,  from  the 
return  of  the  exiles  to  the  breaking  of  its  bands  in 
Christ. 

We  do  not,  then,  claim  that  a  free  manifestation  and 
obvious  growth  of  Congregational  principles  are  neces- 
sary to  the  existence,  or  even,  within  certain  limits,  to 
the  development,  of  the  Christian  Church.  That  wider 
outreach  and  forward  movement  of  those  divine  forces 
which  make  for  righteousness  and  for  the  final  suprem- 
acy of  the  divine  self-revelation  in  redemption,  and 
which  we  call  in  their  totality  the  power  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  on  earth,  is  certainly  not  altogether  meas- 
ured by  such  thoughts  as  have  occupied  us  in  this 
Course  of  Lectures.  And  yet  these  thoughts  are  most 
intimately  concerned  with  the  progress  of  this  kingdom. 
They  will  be  yet  more  and  more  intimately  concerned 
with  this  progress  as  its  centuries  roll  onward  in  the 
great  world-period  which  is  taken  out  of  infinite  time. 
The  principles  of  the  true  Church  Polity  are  by  their 
very  nature  certified  to  have  power  to  exert  a  growing 
influence  over  regenerate  men.  By  this  same  nature 
they  are  made  fit  to  exercise  more  and  more  of  influ- 
ence over  the  world  at  large.  To  Congregationalism 
considered  as  a  matter  of  principles,  the  future  obviously  , 
belongs.  As  a  matter  of  principles,  it  is  certain  to  tri- 
umph, and  possess  the  church  catholic,  as  fast  as  the 
church  catholic  becomes  visibly  catholic,  and  possesses 
the  earth.  We  should  have  all  the  confidence  in  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  this  church  order  which  makes  the 
Romanist  so  strong :  we  should,  however,  quite  purge 
this  confidence  of  those  elements  of  weakness,  error, 
and  violence,  which  have  brought  upon  Romanism  so 
much  of  her  guilt  and  shame. 

This  certainty  of  the  future,  which  belongs  to  these 


LECT.  X.]  THEIR   ULTIMATE   TRIUMPH.  323 

principles,  is  made  apparent  by  a  thoughtful  considera- 
tion, especially  of  those  two  which  we  have  recognized 
as  the  primary  and  fundamental.  More  and  more  will 
the  Word  of  God  in  Scripture,  as  that  Word  is  read  at 
the  point  of  illumination  where  the  rays  of  Christian 
reason  converge  upon  it,  have  control  over  the  consti- 
tution and  life  as  well  as  doctrine  of  the  church.  More 
and  more  abundantly  will  the  work  of  the  Divine  Spirit 
be  manifested,  more  and  more  gladly  acknowledged, 
among  men.  As  the  formal  and  the  material  principles 
of  our  church  order  gain  more  perfect  control  over  all 
the  disciples  of  Christ,  these  disciples  will,  in  fact,  be 
won  to  its  other  principles,  if  not  to  its  name ;  and 
whether  to  the  name  or  not,  if  only  to  the  principles,  we 
scarcely  care  to  inquire. 

A  careful  examination  of  each  one  of  those  seven 
principles  which  have  been  designated  as  secondary,  or 
derived,  will  show  that  the  promise  of  the  future  be- 
longs also  to  them.  They  are  principles  given  to  the 
church  in  the  doctrine  and  history  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment: they  are,  therefore,  designed  for  the  church  in 
all  ages  and  nations.  The  triumph  of  counteracting 
forces  for  a  time  may  be  regarded  as  only  preparatory 
for  the  final  triumph  of  these  principles.  Wl\en  the 
ancient  prophetic  spirit  of  Judaism  slumbered  and 
slept,  it  was  only  that  it  might  awake  invigorated  at 
the  coming  of  the  Bridegroom,  Christ.  The  priestly 
spirit  which  had  doubtless,  in  the  service  of  the  divine 
pedagogy,  prepared  the  way  for  the  setting-up  of  the 
great  high  priest,  was  denied  entrance  into  the  temple 
by  Him  whose  way  it  had  prepared.  The  principle  of 
Christ's  exclusive  rulership,  the  principle  of  individual 
equality  and  self-control,  the  principle  of  a  regenerate 
membership,  the  principle  of  the  autonomy  of  the  local 


324  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

church,  the  principle  of  the  communion  of  the  churches, 
the  principle  of  conserving  the  results  of  common  expe- 
rience, the  principle  of  progress  through  individual  in- 
quiry, —  to  these  principles  the  future  of  the  Church  of 
Christ  will  certainly  conform  its  institutions,  customs, 
laws,  and  entire  manner  of  life.  The  forces  which  have 
hitherto  counteracted  these  principles  are  teachers  in 
the  great  divine  pedagogy  of  the  Christian  Church ;  but 
they  are  teachers  with  whose  services  the  great  Master 
of  Instruction  will  more  and  more  dispense.  Their 
work  has  been  temporary,  has  been  in  order  that  the 
other  forces  which  express  themselves  in  such  princi- 
ples as  are  of  enduring  authority  might  have  more 
room  to  work. 

It  follows,  from  what  has  been  said  above,  that  the 
application  of  the  principles  of  Congregationalism  to 
the  growth  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth  is  both 
most  important,  and  most  certain  really  to  be  made.  It 
follows,  also,  that  this  application  should  be  attempted 
as  widely  and  speedily  as  possible  by  their  advocates. 
Congregationalists,  that  is  to  say,  are  morally  bound  to 
disseminate  their  principles.  And  if  we  hold  that  the 
teaching  of  these  Lectures,  in  so  far  as  they  have  con- 
sidere4  Congregationalism  as  essentially  a  matter  of 
principles,  is  true,  then  it  is  obvious  that  the  obliga- 
tion to  disseminate  the  principles  is  an  obligation  to 
self-propagation.  It  is  of  the  self-propagation  of  Con- 
gregationalism that  we  are  now  to  treat.  The  practi- 
cal truth  which  dominates  and  gives  force  and  character 
to  all  the  other  subordinate  truths  of  our  treatment  is 
this :  The  propagation  of  Congregationalism  as  a  matter 
of  principles  to  he  embodied  i7i  an  ever-increasing  number 
of  N^ew- Testament  churches  is  the  duty  of  Congregation- 
alists. 


LECT.  X.]        THEEE   FITNESS   FOR   PROPAGATION.  325 

We  do  not  wonder  that  many  of  the  most  thoughtful, 
erudite,  charitable,  and  tender  Christian  men  have 
become  weary  with  the  endless  strife  of  sects.  We 
have  at  present  no  new  sect  to  propose,  the  joining  of 
one's  self  to  which  shall  at  once  put  an  end  to  strife. 
The  end  of  sectarian  strife  is  to  come,  surely  not  by 
the  multiplication  of  sects,  and  not,  as  we  believe,  by  the 
triumph  of  any  one  sect  over  all  others,  but,  when 
the  Father  answers  the  prayer  of  the  Son,  by  the  ces- 
sation of  the  spirit  of  sect  from  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth.  Not  as  a  sect,  then,  but  as  offering  the  form  for 
manifesting  that  unity  in  unison  with  liberty  which  the 
spirit  of  Christ  secures,  can  we  urge  the  ardent  and 
vigorous  self-propagation  of  the  Congregational  church 
order. 

But,  furthermore,  the  course  of  our  thought,  as  it  has 
been  made  luminous  by  light  from  the  history  of  this 
order,  should  by  this  time  have  convinced  us  that  Con- 
gregationalism is,  as  a  matter  of  principles,  admirably 
adapted  for  self-propagation  under  all  circumstances, 
and  through  all  classes  and  periods  in  the  history  of 
men.  This  adaptation  follows  from  its  essential  fitness 
to  the  nature  of  man  as  a  rational  soul,  as  a  social 
being,  and  as  a  citizen,  or  subject  of  civil  government. 
This  adaptation  is  also  seen  in  the  fact  that  such  a 
church  polity  founds  the  church  upon  regenerate  life, 
conserves  in  its  vital  sources  the  purity  of  that  life,  and 
imparts  a  broad  and  fraternal  charity  to  all  who  share 
in  this  regenerate  life.  There  is  no  more  self-convict- 
ing and  mortal,  nay,  cowardly  and  suicidal,  heresy  re- 
garding this  polity  than  to  claim  its  fitness  only  for 
provincial  uses,  selected  classes,  opportune  seasons,  and 
favoring  circumstances.  In  brief,  to  admit  that  this 
polity  is  not  adapted  for  man  as  a  regenerate  man  is 


326  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

to  admit  that  it  is  not  the  New-Testament  order  at  all : 
it  is  to  admit  that  it  is  not  worthy  to  stand  even  as  one 
New-Testament  order  among  many  which  may  equally 
well  lay  claim  to  the  name.  Imagine  the  scorn  that 
Jesus  and  Paul  would  have  bestowed  upon  any  church 
order  which  asserted  its  own  fitness  to  deal  only  with 
the  educated  and  selected  classes  !  If  Congregational- 
ism cannot  manage  and  religiously  master  the  negro  in 
the  South,  as,  indeed,  some  have  taught  that  it  cannot, 
let  it  confess  itself  so  far  unapt,  and  unworthy  of  the 
name  of  a  Christian  system  of  planting  and  controlling 
churches.  No  essentially  provincial  form  of  religion 
can  be  a  New-Testament  religion.  No  church  order 
which  could  not  bind  and  hold  in  church  bands  con- 
verted souls  in  all  places  of  Christ's  dominion  would 
ever  have  received  apostolic  sanction.  Just  so  far  as 
Congregationalism  is  by  its  principles  or  essential  form 
distinctively  unfitted  for  man  as  man,  just  so  far  is  it 
self-convicted  of  being  distinctively  unphilosophical  and 
unchristian.  The  principles  of  the  true  church  polity 
will  not,  indeed,  dispense  with  men  and  means  to  carry 
them  out  in  the  practical  exigencies  of  the  Christian 
life.  They  will  work  best  among  the  best  men.  They 
may,  like  all  other  divinest  principles,  for  a  time  appar- 
ently succumb  under  a  great  weight  of  ignorance  and 
sin.  But  the  ignorance  to  them  most  oppressive  is  that 
which  reigns  in  the  minds  of  the  church  itself.  And 
the  sin  which  most  nearly  defeats  the  advance  of  these 
principles  is  the  sin  of  indifference  and  confessed 
weakness  on  tlie  part  of  their  professed  advocates  and 
friends. 

Fortunately  for  the  hopes  of  existence  and  growth 
which  belong  to  our  church  order,  this  restrictive  view 
of  its  power  in  self-propagation  by  no  means  accords 


LECT.  X.]       THEIE   FITNESS   FOR  PROPAGATION.  327 

with  the  facts  of  history.  Modern  missions  are  demon- 
strating again  to  the  dull  and  sluggish  minds  of  the 
church  the  very  truths  which  were  taught  with  diffi- 
culty in  the  beginnings  of  Christianit3\  The  tirst  great 
practical  heresy  of  the  Christian  Church  was  the  belief 
that  Christianity  is  in  its  purest  form  adapted  only  to 
the  few.  The  Apostle  Paul  wrought  and  suffered  for 
the  defeat  of  this  Judaizing  heresy.  When,  then,  it  is 
claimed  that  a  pure  church  polity,  from  lack  of  strength 
or  from  any  other  imagined  lack,  can  be  worked  only 
in  essentially  the  same  Judaizing  and  restricted  fashion, 
we  have  our  appeal  both  to  principles  and  also  to  the 
facts.  In  reply  to  the  accusation  that  Congregational- 
ism is  not  strong  enough  for  the  West,  Dr.  Post  has 
uttered  the  following  eloquent  rebuke  :  ^  "  Congrega- 
tionalism was  strong  enough  for  the  turbulence,  the 
heterogeneousness,  the  violent  and  the  voluptuous  sin, 
the  ruffianism,  and  the  courtly  vice  of  the  ancient  world  ; 
for  Jew,  Gentile,  Barbarian,  Scythian,  bond  or  free ; 
strong  enough  for  dissolute  Corinth,  volatile  Athens, 
for  tumultuary  Ephesus,  for  many-tongued  Alexandria, 
and  that  vortex  of  nations,  Rome ;  strong  enough  for 
churches  gathered  from  fanatic  Judaism  and  bestial 
heathenism ;  strong  enough  for  the  sensual  Cretan,  the 
passionate  Iberian,  the  versatile  Ionian,  the  haughty 
Italian,  the  Syrian  Sybarite,  the  migratory  borderers 
of  the  African  and  Arabian  desert,  and  the  motley  mil- 
lions that  fermented  around  the  world's  centres  of  com- 
merce, luxury,  and  empire  ;  strong  enough  for  all  these, 
and  yet  not  strong  enough  for  our  American  West ! " 
A  rebuke  as  eloquent  and  forceful  in  the  appeal  to 
facts  might  be  made  by  any  advocate  of  our  church 
order  from  the  material  furnished  out  of  the  experience, 
1  See  American  Congregational  Union  Addresses,  May,  1854,  p.  87. 


328  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

among  outlying  peoples,  of  our  American  Board  of 
Foreiorn  Missions. 

We  are,  then,  entitled  to  the  fullest  confidence  in  the 
self-propagating  powers  of  the  highest  and  purest  form 
of  church  polity.  Congregational  churches,  in  so  far  as 
they  give  form  to  the  principles  of  this  polity,  should 
be  propagated,  as  a  matter  of  principle,  by  Congregation- 
alists.  And  this  ^  work  of  self-propagation  they  may 
undertake  and  continue  with  hope  of  marked  success. 

But  we  are  at  once  advised  to  review  our  conclusions 
in  the  light  of  certain  facts.  It  is  asserted,  with  large 
display  of  statistics,  and  good  measure  of  undoubted 
truth,  that  historic  Congregationalism  has  fallen  behind 
a  considerable  number  of  the  denominations  in  the  ratio 
and  extent  of  its  increase.  And  its  fault  or  failure  in 
self-propagation  has  been  conspicuously  manifest  in  this 
land  of  America,  its  most  favorable  and  originally  prom- 
ising ground.  We  are  reminded,  and  no  doubt  with 
substantial  correctness,  that  this  church  order,  in  the 
matter  of  planting  its  own  churches,  achieved  during 
the  century  from  1776  to  1876  a  by  no  means  flattering 
success.  The  facts  are  said  to  show  that  whereas,  in 
1776,  the  Congregationalists  had  in  apparent  adherents 
double  the  number  of  any  other  church  order,  in  1876 
they  stood  seventh  on  the  list ;  that  while  the  popula- 
tion of  the  country  was  increasing  eleven-fold,  and  the 
growth  of  churches  in  general  was  so  far  outstripping 
the  growth  of  the  population  as  to  aggregate  thirty- 
seven-fold,  that  while  the  Methodists  increased  three- 
hundred-and-thirty-fold,  the  Baptists  seventy-fold,  the 
Presbyterians  seventeen-fold,  the  Episcopalians  nine- 
fold, the  Congregational  churches  grew  Qnly  fivefold. 
The  churches  of  this  order  grew,  therefore,  less  than 
half  as  rapidly  as  the  population  at  large,  and  less  than 


LECT.  X.]  FAILURE   IN   SELF-PROPAGATION.  329 

one-seventh  as  rapidly  as  the  churches  in  general.  And 
when  we  consider  the  prestige,  the  ancient  privileges 
and  early  possession,  of  these  churches,  theii'  large  rela- 
tive decline  during  this  century  becomes  significant  in- 
deed.i  As  students  of  the  forces  at  work  in  the  history 
of  religion,  and  as  sincere  admirers  and  defenders  of 
New-Testament  principles,  we  cannot  be  indifferent  to 
such  facts  as  these.  We  must  inquire  with  eagerness 
as  to  the  causes  of  this  large  relative  decline. 

In  order,  however,  to  understand  the  causes,  we  must 
not  misconceive  or  misstate  the  phenomena  ;  and,  in 
order  to  the  correct  conception  and  statement  of  the 
phenomena,  the  two  following  distinctions  must  be  kept 
in  mind. 

We  must  distinguish  between  churches  called  by 
name  Congregational,  and  churches  which,  although  not 
bearing  this  name,  are,  in  regard  to  polity,  really  and 
distinctively  Congregational.  Dr.  Dexter,  on  review- 
ing the  statistics  of  the  denominations  in  this  country 
as  they  were  reported  in  1874  and  neighboring  years, 
finds,  that,  v\^hile  the  number  of  so-called  orthodox  Con- 
gregational churches  was  only  3,431,  the  whole  number 
of  churches  "  essentially  Congregational  in  their  form 
of  government "  amounted  to  no  fewer  than  31,446,  or 
nearly  three-sevenths  of  all  the  Christian  churches.^ 
We  discover,  then,  that  Congregationalism  in  this  coun- 
try, so  far  as  it  is  a  form  of  church  government,  can 
count  among  its  adherents  about  nine  times  as  many  as 
bear  the  specific  title  which  is  chosen  to  set  forth  that 
form. 

1  For  these  or  similar  statements,  and  a  discussion  of  the  subject,  see 
the  following  articles:  article  by  Dr.  "W.  W.  Patton,  New-Englander, 
October,  1876;  article  by  Dr.  Gushing,  in  Congregational  Quarterly, 
October,  1876;  article  by  Professor  Diman,  in  North-American  Review, 
January,  1876;  article  by  Dr.  Noyes,  in  New-Englander,  July,  1879. 

2  See  Congregationalism,  p.  4,  f. 


330  PRINCIPLES   OP  CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

But  another  mucli  more  important  distinction  re- 
mains to  be  noticed.  We  must  distinguish  between 
the  self-propagation  of  Congregationalism  as  a  matter  of 
principles,  and  that  same  self-propagation  as  a  matter 
of  churches  having  a  more  definitely  fixed  and  detailed 
correspondence  to  the  ancient  forms  of  our  church 
order.  We  must  distinguish  between  the  diffusion  of 
Congregationalism  and  the  multiplication  of  churches 
governed  in  specifically  Congregational  form.  The  au- 
tonomy of  the  particular  visible  church  is,  indeed,  an 
important  and  even  a  characteristic  feature  of  Congre- 
gationalism. As  a  concrete  manifestation,  it  is  some- 
times considered  as  containing  the  very  essence  of  our 
church  order,  as  being,  indeed,  that  which  constitutes 
this  order  a  distinctive  order  among  many  others.  But 
the  growth  of  the  concrete  manifestation  does  not  meas- 
ure the  entire  development ;  for,  in  the  larger  view  of 
history  pragmatically  considered,  we  must,  as  has  al- 
ready been  made  apparent,  take  into  the  account  a  con- 
geries or  fraternal  hund  of  principles  which  have  been 
growing  together,  and  the  growth  of  wliich  cannot  be 
satisfactorily  explained  without  taking  them  all  into  the 
account.  In  asserting  the  autonomy  of  the  particular 
church,  the  revolt  of  our  fathers  was,  to  be  sure,  against 
a  kind  of  enforced  conformity  in  the  matter  of  church 
government.  Such  enforced  conformity  would  not, 
however,  be  attempted  by  any  Protestant  sect  in  the 
present  day,  and  could  not  be  carried  out,  even  by 
Romanism,  in  any  country  of  Northern  Europe.  If  the 
early  Congregationalists  had  been  living,  for  instance, 
in  a  communion  like  that  of  the  modern  Presbyterian 
Church,  they  would  probably  never  have  revolted  against 
its  form  of  government  at  all.  But  why  do  the  Protes- 
tant sects  by  inclination,  and  even  Romanism  by  con- 


LECT.  X.]  DIFFUSION  IN  MODERN  SOCIETY.  331 

straint,  now  concede  such  a  large  measure  of  practical 
autonomy  to  the  particular  church?  Why  have  the 
principles  of  the  sects  with  regard  to  church  govern- 
ment met  with  such  change  ?  and  why  has  the  Roman- 
Catholic  Church,  without  any  change  of  principles,  been 
compelled  to  forbear,  to  dissemble,  and  to  walk  with 
caution  before  the  popular  will  as  expressed  in  the  local 
congregation?  These  changes  in  respect  to  ecclesiasti- 
cal self-government  are,  indeed,  parts  of  a  world-move- 
ment in  history.  The  people  are  everywhere  and  in 
every  thing  coming  to  the  front,  and  in  the  front  hence- 
forth they  are  destined  forever  to  stand.  Any  indi- 
vidual or  institution,  therefore,  be  it  a  manifestation  of 
religious,  social,  or  civil  life,  which  attempts  to  resist 
this  great  world-movement,  will  be  ground  to  powder 
under  its  advance.  To  guide,  enlighten,  enlarge,  and 
sweeten  the  life  of  the  people,  is  the  work  of  wisdom  :  it 
is  also  the  work  of  cheer  and  hope. 

Of  this  world-movement  in  history,  —  a  movement 
which  can  be  attributed  to  nothing  weaker  than  the- 
Omnipotent  Spirit,  to  nothing  less  noble  than  the  in- 
breathing of  his  life,  —  Congregationalism  is  itself  a 
part ;  but  Congregationalism  is,  on  the  whole,  the  most 
significant  part  of  this  movement,  since  it  broke  forth 
in  its  might  when  Luther,  by  his  theses,  called  from 
the  door  of  the  Wittenberg  Cathedral  upon  all  Germany. 
But  if  our  church  order  may  be  considered  as  one  most 
notable  part  of  a  total  .effect,  it  must  also  be  considered 
as  a  no  less  notable  part  of  the  cause  of  that  effect. 
Congregationalism  has  itself  modified  all  the  denomina- 
tions whose  churches  are  spread  throughout  this  coun- 
try. Ideas  and  customs  originally  Congregational,  and, 
from  the  first,  continually  propagated  by  New-England 
Congregationalists,  are  present  and  working  in  all  the 


332  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

denominations.  And,  furthermore,  the  self-propagation 
of  Congregationalism  as  a  matter  of  principles  has  not 
been  bounded  by  the  nearer  shore  of  the  ocean.  "  Prin- 
ciples," as  says  Dr.  Post  of  this  same  subject,  "  extend 
more  widely  than  their  organisms.  They  will  penetrate 
into  organisms  not  their  own,  and  progressively  though 
silently  modify  and  shape  them  to  their  own  spirit. 
No  system,  however  sealed  and  despotic,  not  even  Ro- 
manism itself,  can  entirely  withstand  the  influence  of 
free  church  principles,  silently  blending  and  conspiring 
with  the  democratic  genius  of  American  institutions 
and  the  American  mind." 

Various  indications  clearly  show  the  early  self-propa- 
gating power  of  New-England  Congregationalism  in  the 
soil  of  Old  England  .itself.  The  authors  of  "  A  Letter 
of  Many  Ministers  in  Old  England,  requesting  the 
Judgment  of  their  Reverend  Brethren  in  New  England 
concerning  Nine  Positions,"  written  as  early  as  1637, 
profess  that  the  views  and  practices  of  Congregational- 
-ists  in  this  country  were  taking  root  "  with  divers  in 
many  parts  of  the  kingdom."  The  answer  to  the  Two- 
and  Thirty  Questions,  which  was  published  in  England 
the  same  year  with  the  answer  to  the  above  letter,  was, 
doubtless,  not  without  considerable  effect  upon  the  for- 
mation of  Independency  in  that  country.^  John  Cotton's 
"True  Constitution  of  a  Particular  Visible  Church," 
afterwards  reprinted  under  another  title,  also  made  no 
small  impression  in  England.  The  total  effect  wrought 
upon  the  mother-country  by  the  Congregationalism  of 
this  country  may  be  in  a  measure  estimated  by  the  fact, 
that,  in  September  of  1642,  an  invitation  from  certain 
members  of  Parliament  came  to  Cotton,  Hooker,  and 
Davenport,  "  to  assist  in  the  synod  "  of  most  "  grave, 

1  See  article  of  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  in  New-Englander,  July,  1878. 


LECT.  X.]  NEW-ENGLAND   THEOLOGY.  333 

pious,  learned,  and  judicious  divines,"  whose  business 
was  "  to  consider  and  advise  about  the  settling  of 
cluu'ch  government"  in  England.  This  invitation  was 
in  anticii^ation  of  the  ordinance  convening  the  West- 
minster Assembly.  In  the  debate  and  decisions  of  that 
assembly,  the  influence  of  the  New-England  Way,  as  ad- 
vocated by  Thomas  Goodwin  and  his  fellow-champions 
of  the  same  cause,  was  powerfully  felt. 

What  these  principles  have  done  by  their  self-propa- 
gation to  advance  education,  to  mould  society,  and  to 
frame  and  control  civil  government,  has  already  been 
made  subject  of  admiring  remark. 

By  no  means  the  least  important  and  notable  element  in 
the  self-propagation  of  New-England  Congregationalism 
has  been  its  distinctive  development  of  theology.  The 
only  distinctive  contribution  which  the  intellectual  life 
of  America  has  made  to  the  world's  fund  of  theological 
thinking  is  the  so-called  New-England  theology.  We 
need  not  believe  that  this  development  is  a  finality  in 
theology ;  we  need  not  suppose  that  it  is  all  indisputa- 
bly true,  and  superior  to  all  other  results  of  patient  and 
erudite  thinking.  We  should  not  require  adherence  to 
its  distinctive  tenets  as  a  part  of  fitness  for  the  Congre- 
gational ministry ;  nor  should  that  ministry  be  unable 
to  look  as  far  away  as  Germany,  or  as  far  back  in  his- 
tory as  Augustine  and  Pelagius,  for  their  materials  of 
thought.  New-EngUnd  theology  is  not,  indeed,  the 
universe  of  theological  thinking :  it  does  not,  perhaps, 
even  comprise  its  sun,  moon,  and  entire  planetary  sys- 
tem. But  New-England  theology  is  the  only  devel- 
opment of  theology  which  this  country  has  had  the 
intellectual  strength  to  produce ;  and  it  is,  on  the  whole, 
the  most  important  development  of  theology  which  can 
be  traced  to  the  eighteenth  century.     If  Congregation- 


334  PEIlSrCIPLES   of   church   polity.  [lect,  X. 

alism  had  far  fewer  names  of  confessed  adherents  willing 
to  call  themselves  frankly  what  they  really  are,  it  would 
still  be  entitled  to  a  place  upon  the  walls  of  church  his- 
tory where  it  might  write  conspicuous  the  names  of  its 
theologians,  from  Jonathan  Edwards  to  Edwards  A. 
Park. 

We  may,  in  view  of  the  foregoing  considerations, 
claim  that  the  self-propagation  of  New-England  Congre- 
gationalism is  by  no  means  to  be  measured  by  number- 
ing the  more  strictly  Congregational  churches.  To 
give  principles  to  the  world  and  to  the  churches,  to 
move  in  the  great  currents  of  the  divine  life  as  it  inflows, 
and  moulds  anew  the  forms  of  history,  is  a  grander 
work  and  mission  than  to  build  up  the  most  numerous 
and  skilfully-compacted  of  denominations. 

Yet  we  are  by  no  means  to  underrate  the  significance 
of  the  ugly  facts  to  which  our  attention  has  been  called. 
The  true  church  polity  must  submit  itself  to  be  tested, 
not  simply  by  the  New  Testament,  abstract  reasoning, 
a  priori  correspondences  with  supposed  forces  of  history, 
and  promises  of  future  more  visible  successes ;  it  must 
also  be  tested  by  its  concreter  workings,  its  demon- 
strated ability  to  cope  with  obstacles  as  they  exist ;  it 
must  show  inherent  force  to  mould  men  as  they  are 
found,  and  verify  its  claims  by  doing  the  work  of  organ- 
ization which  manifestly  needs  to  be  done  for  the  good 
of  the  world.  Great  ideas  and  principles  need  concrete 
expression :  the  greater  the  ideas  and  principles,  the  more 
numerous  the  concrete  forms  in  which  we  may  duly 
expect  to  find,  them  expressed.  And,  inasmuch  as  Con- 
gregationalism magnifies  the  office  and  value  of  the 
particular  visible  church,  the  demand  is  just  that  it  shall 
evince,  besides  a  few  general  principles,  many  particular 
churches  embodying  those  principles ;  besides  invisible 


LECT.  X.]  CAUSES   OF   SLOW   GROWTH.  335 

ideas,  visible  men  and  women  working  amidst  the  hard 
conditions  of  life  and  under  the  intelligent  domination 
of  those  ideas.  If  the  invisible  church,  to  modify  a 
sarcasm  of  Schleiermacher,  is  not  visible,  the  church 
that  is  visible  will  be  mostly  not-church.  Any  form 
of  church  life  must  necessarily  value  its  own  manifest 
power  to  deal  with  men  for  their  bettering,  more  than 
it  values  any  thing  else  but  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ. 
And  this  allegiance  itself  bids  every  system  of  church, 
life  Go  and  conquer  the  world.  There  can,  indeed, 
be  no  doubt  that  the  failure  of  New-England  Congrega- 
tionalism more  freely  to  propagate  churches  of  its  own 
order  during  the  century  from  1776  to  1876  indicates 
its  departure  from  the  principles  of  the  New  Testament. 
So  far  forth,  then,  it  was  not  the  ideal  and  true  church 
polity.  The  New-Testament  churches  were  most  vigor- 
ously self-propagating.  We  must,  then,  inquire  further 
into  the  causes  of  so  large  a  relative  decline  in  the  num- 
ber of  Congregational  churches  in  this  country  during 
the  period  above  named. 

These  causes  may  be  enumerated  under  three  divis- 
ions or  general  heads  of  the  inquiry. 

We  may,  first  of  all,  claim  that  certain  large  general 
causes,  either  beyond  all  human  control,  or  at  least 
beyond  the  control  of  the  Congregationalists  of  the 
last  century,  have  operated  with  relative  disfavor 
toward  this  polity. 

The  comparatively  recent  development  of  modern 
Congregationalism  has  not  as  yet  afforded  it  time  to 
cope  with  older  and  elaborately  organized  ecclesiastical 
systems.  Wickliffe  has,  indeed,  been  called  "the  mod- 
ern discoverer  of  the  doctrines  of  Congregational  dis- 
sent." The  English  Puritans  were,  however,  more 
fully  the  discoverers  of  these  doctrines;  the  Pilgrim 


386  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  -        [lect.  x. 

Fathers  and  Puritans  of  New  England,  more  fully  still. 
But  the  unfolding  of  this  polity  even  in  this  country 
has  been  in  contact  with,  and  in  the  face  of,  forms  of 
church  government  that  already  had  the  definite  out- 
lines, the  compacted  forces,  the  settled  customs,  which 
belong  to  age.  The  Congregational  system  as  com- 
pared with  the  hierarchical  systems  has  in  modern 
history  some  of  the  disadvantages  of  youth.  The 
Methodists,  whose  astonishing  growth  is  often  placed  in 
contrast  with  that  of  Congregationalism,  have  availed 
themselves  of  the  hierarchical  system.  But  Congrega- 
'tionalists  have,  from  almost  the  first,  found  it  very  diffi- 
cult to  settle  their  own  positions,  and  define  themselves, 
with  reference  to  existing  denominations.  They  have 
scarcely  yet  succeeded  in  finding  out  how  far  they  can 
be  Presbyterians,  and  still  remain  Congregationalists. 
Their  customs  have  hitherto  exhibited  much  of  the 
rawness  of  youth.  Whereas  the  Book  of  Discipline 
will  tell  the  Presbyterian  in  detail  how  the  government 
of  the  church  is  to  be  carried  on,  and  whereas,  in  the 
hierarchical  systems,  the  higher  orders  of  the  clergy 
may  be  supposed  to  know  the  rules  for  the  manage- 
ment of  the  affairs  committed  to  them,  who  shall 
instruct  the  uninformed  Congregational  minister,  when 
emergencies  arise  ?  We  may  reply.  Common  sense,  or 
the  Bible,  or  "  sanctified  common  sense."  But  the  ques- 
tion comes  back.  Whose  common  sense,  and  whose  view 
of  the  application  of  biblical  truth?  This  awkward- 
ness of  working  is  inevitable  whenever  any  principles 
begin  to  seek  for  right  methods  of  realizing  themselves. 
It  is  the  penalty  which  the  church  must  pay  for  having, 
during  centuries,  neglected  to  acquire  skill  in  the  use 
of  New-Testament  principles.  The  blame  of  the  awk 
wardness  which  belongs  to  this  newness  comes  upon 


LECT.  X.]  CAUSES   OF   SLOW   GROWTH.  337 

US.  The  other  churches  too  often  laugh  at  the  testing 
of  that  which,  when  tested,  they  are  ready  to  use  with 
profit  to  themselves.  The  first  century  and  a  half  of 
Congregationalism  in  this  country  afforded  only  small 
experience  concerning  its  relations  to  surrounding  sects 
and  denominations ;  this,  for  the  simple  reason  that  the 
field  belonged  so  largely  to  it  alone.  And,  since  the 
adherents  of  other  church  orders  have  been  pouring 
into  our  country,  we  have  scarcely  been  able  to  deter- 
mine in  what  relations  the  practical  details  of  our  polity 
should  stand  to  these  changed  conditions  of  life. 

The  above  remark  may  introduce  the  recognition  of 
another  unfavorable  force.  The  nature  of  American 
immigration  has  been  to  our  church  order  an  unfavora- 
ble force.  Large  numbers  have  come  to  this  country 
already  tenaciously  adhering  to  other  forms  of  church 
life.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  Roman  Catholics, 
the  Lutherans,  the  Episcopalians :  all  these  naturally 
prefer  any  other  form  of  church  polity  to  the  Congre- 
gational, about  the  principles  of  which,  indeed,  they 
know  little  or  nothing  at  all.  Presbyterians  from  Scot- 
land and  England  and  Holland  have  arrived  upon  our 
shores ;  nearly  all  of  them  heartily  believing  in  the 
Presbyterian  polit}^,  and  not  a  few  comfortably  per- 
suaded that  its  highest  judicatory  is  the  veritable  gen- 
eral assembly  referred  to  in  Heb.  xii.  23. 

Closely  connected  with  the  working  of  this  unfavora- 
ble cause  stands  another.  The  geographical  position 
of  early  Congregationalism  was  essentially  provincial. 
This  provincial  position  was  such  as  to  require  that 
it  should  go  forth  from  its  ancient  ground  in  order  to 
infuse  itself  into  the  main  tides  of  immigration  as 
they  have  flowed  inward  through  the  land.  The  cen- 
tres of  our  church  order  in  Eastern  Massachusetts  and 


338  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

in  Connecticut  are  still  geographically  aloof  from  tlie 
areas  and  courses  of  the  national  life.  When  New- 
England  itself  is  becoming  so  small  a  section  of  the 
whole  country,  it  requires  effort  to  prevent  New-Eng- 
land Congregationalism  from  degenerating  into  an 
insignificant  sect. 

We  should,  perhaps,  also  consider  that  the  compara- 
tive slowness  of  the  development  of  Congregationalism 
is  due  to  the  nature  of  its  development,  as  well  as  to 
the  lateness  of  its  favoring  hour.  It  was  originally  a 
divine  gift,  made  through  spiritual  guidance  of  the 
New-Testament  churches  to  the  Church  of  all  time. 
It  was  a  gift  germinal  and  typical,  though  crude ;  ten- 
der, though  fresh  and  vigorous.  It  suffered  in  the 
early  centuries  an  arrest  of  development :  it  lay  dor- 
mant and  yet  vital  in  the  garden  of  the  Lord  through 
many  media3val  centuries.  In  the  sixteenth  century 
in  England  it  was  dug  out  of  its  place  of  hiding  and 
sleeping  with  the  sword  of  the  Word,  —  a  sword  wdiich 
soon  became  the  instrument  of  civil  as  well  as  eccle- 
siastical cleavage  of  ancient  customs.  In  America  it 
suffered  through  a  century  another  arrest  of  develop- 
ment, which  was  chiefly  due  to  neglect.  The  system  is 
of  the  nature  of  those  growths  for  the  advance  of  which 
common-ivealtli  interests  and  activities  must  be  invoked. 
Systems  which  spring  at  once  into  perfection  of  being 
as  the  results  of  individual  reflection  and  masterly 
skill  may  for  a  time  far  outstrip  those,  which,  because 
they  are  common-wealth  growths,  must  wait  for  the 
divine  light  and  heat  in  the  public  brain  and  heart. 

We  are  far,  however,  from  believing,  that,  when 
accused  of  this  lack  of  strength  in  self-propagation, 
Congregationalists  may  wholly  excuse  the  lack  by 
pleading  any  unconquerable  stubbornness  in  the  soil. 


i-ECT.  X.]  EXCESSIVE  CONSEEYATISM.  339 

The  seed  is  equal  to  self-propagation  in  the  most  stub- 
born soil ;  it  must,  however,  be  sown  with  faith  and  in 
tears ;  it  must  be,  in  husbandly  hardihood  and  patience, 
subjected  to  cultivation. 

We  consider,  therefore,  in  the  second  place,  certain 
weaknesses  closely  inherent  in  this  polity  as  it  has  been 
developed,  and  has  operated  hitherto,  in  this  land.  We 
cannot  admit  that  these  weaknesses  are  inherent  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  true  church  polity :  they  are  such, 
however,  as  have  been  actually  operative  to  its  disad- 
vantage through  the  immature  condition  of  its  develop- 
ment. 

Among  such  weaknesses  must  we  place  a  certain 
spirit  of  provincialism  which  was  stamped  upon  Con- 
gregationalism in  the  places  of  its  origin  in  this  coun- 
try, and  which  it  was  attempted  to  propagate  in  those 
other  places  where  a  more  cosmopolitan  form  of  apply- 
ing its  principles  was  demanded,  and  would  have  been 
both  safe  and  possible.  The  claim  of  Dr.  Dexter,^  that 
flexibility  of  form  belongs  to  Congregationalism,  is  en- 
tirely legitimate  on  grounds  of  principle ;  but  the  com- 
plaint of  Dr.  Post,^  that  New-England  Congregational- 
ists  have  opposed  the  advantage  which  might  have  been 
reaped  from  this  flexibility,  is  also  quite  true  as  a  mat- 
ter of  fact.  The  conservatism  of  the  East  has  been 
altogether  too  tenacious  of  matters  of  form  to  give  its 
church  order  a  ready  entrance  in  the  West.  Thus  has 
the  New-England  church  polity  separated  itself  from 
the  sympathies  of  the  people  in  the  country  at  large 
by  a  certain  characteristic,  inbred  provincialism.  Amer- 
ica owes  an  immeasurable  debt  to  New-England  Con- 
gregationalism for  the  principles  of  civil  and  religious 

1  See  Congregationalism,  etc.,  p.  241. 

2  See  American  Congregational  Union  Addresses,  May,  1854,  p.  94,  f. 


340  PEINCIPLES   OF  CHUECH  POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

liberty  which  it  has  made  cosmopolitan  ;  but  why  does 
America  confess  so  little  love  toward  the  forms  in  which 
these  principles  were  originally  embodied  ?  In  part  be- 
cause of  the  disagreeable  and  haughty  stiffness  of  the 
form  in  which  it  has  been  desired  to  propagate  the  prin- 
ciples. It  has  too  often  been  found  bej^ond  the  facility 
of  New-England  Congregationalists  to  understand  the 
essential  differences  that  exist  between  their  own  com- 
munities and  those  other  communities  in  which  they 
should  have  diffused  their  principles  under  new  forms 
adapted  to  the  differences. 

Moreover,  the  one  form  differing  from  that  of  New- 
England  Congregationalism,  which  was  deliberately 
adopted  by  Congregationalists  themselves  for  the  insti- 
tuting and  disciplining  of  new  churches  in  regions  lying 
toward  the  West,  was  lamentably  unfortunate.  This 
form  was  not  so  much  a  new  form  of  adjusting  old 
principles  to  new  exigencies,  as  a  total  surrender  of  the 
principles  themselves.  The  surrender  was  tolerated 
under  the  impression  that  pure  Congregationalism  could 
not  succeed  in  new  regions,  —  an  impression  true  enough, 
so  long  as  we  regard  Congregationalism  as  a  sect,  but 
false  indeed,  as  soon  as  we  consider  it  as  a  matter  of 
principles.  The  resulting  unwise  policy  —  the  Plan  of 
Union  so  called  • —  has  justly  been  designated  an  "  at- 
tempt at  union  by  compromise,  or  suppression  of  essen- 
tial organic  principles ; "  and,  as  has  been  truly  asserted, 
this  attempt  "  has  bred  manifold  disasters,  —  internal 
agitations  and  oppugnancy,  convulsions  and  disruptions." 
Probably  no  other  one  cause  has  so  operated  to  check 
the  self-propagation  of  Congregationalism.  The  motives 
to  the  Plan  of  Union  were  diverse ;  partly  good,  but 
unwise,  in  part  almost  wholly  bad.  There  was  a  gener- 
ous willingness  to  build  up  the  kingdom  of  Christ  at 


LECT.  X.]  THE  PLAN   OF   UNION.  341 

the  expense  of  denominational  strength ;    but  there  was 
also  an  unwise  lack  of  faith  in  the  strength  of  New- 
Testament    principles.      By   this    compromise   we    are 
assured,  respecting  our  church  order,  "She  became  a 
mere  local  arrangement,  a  glebe  polity,  an  accident  of 
time,  place,  and  a  certain  phase  of  civilization,  not  a 
matter  of  essential  and  enduring  principle  at  all."     In 
consequence  of  this  Plan   of  Union,  "  it  is  computed 
that  four  hundred  churches,  or  more,  have  been  gath- 
ered in  the  West,  for  the  Presbyterian  Church,  by  the 
benevolence  of  Connecticut  alone."     "  And  I  have  seen 
it  stated,"  adds  the  author  from  whom  I  am  quotino-,i 
"  by  high  Presbyterian  authority,  that  not  less  than  fif- 
teen hundred  of  their  churches  are  essentially  Congre- 
gational in  their  origin  and  habits."     Under  this  plan 
our  money,  our  meeting-houses,  our  ministers,  our  mem- 
bers, were  given  to  others,  and,  we  are  glad  to  add,  our 
miseries  also,  if  we  may  believe  the  lament  of  Dr.  Baird, 
who  declares,  "  All  our  troubles  came  from  Congrega- 
tionalism."    In  this  gladness  there  is   no   malice;   for 
these  communicated  miseries  are  only  the  pains  from  a 
growth  of  larger  liberty  and  charity,  which,  imparted  in 
a  measure  from  our  churches,  will  come  to  maturity  in 
the  Presbyterian  Church.     How  unnecessary  was  this 
Plan  of  Union,  and  how  mistaken  the  assumption  that 
the  free  forms  of  Congregationalism  are  not   adapted 
to    Western   society,  we   may  judge  from   the   effects 
which  have  followed  the  reversal  of  the  plan.     During 
the  twenty-five  years  from  1854  to  18T9  we  had  been 
more  nearly  accomplishing  our  legitimate  work  in  the 
North-west.     In  this  time,  the  churches  of  our  order 
in  that  region  had  multiplied  from  four  hundred  and 

1  See,  on  this  subject,  an  article  in  the  Congregational  Quarterly  for 
October,  1876. 


342  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

twenty  to  sixteen  hundred  and  ninety-three.  At  the 
later  date,  sixty-eight  churches  had  been  planted  in  the 
South;  nearly  all  of  them  since  1870.  In  these  two 
regions,  then,  we  have  in  the  last  quarter-century  multi- 
plied our  churches  more  than  four  hundred  and  twenty 
fold. 

Certain  inheritances  of  the  parish  system,  wliich  make 
the  house  of  God  and  the  enjoyment  of  its  ordinances 
subject  to  the  power  of  exclusiveness,  —  such  as  the  prac- 
tice of  having  the  pews  owned  and  controlled  by  indi- 
viduals; the  practice  of  "lotting  out  the  room"  of  the 
house  of  God,  and  assigning  it  according  to  unchristian 
distinctions ;  the  habit  of  placing  the  Church  of  Christ 
in  the  power  of  the  so-called  parish  for  the  control  of 
its  distinctively  Christian  work, — have  hitherto  been 
weaknesses  in  the  working  of  our  church  system.  The 
means  used  by  our  fathers  to  enforce,  by  civil  enact- 
ments, conformity  to  their  "  standing  order,"  served  in 
their  day  to  alienate  the  people,  and  turn  them  away 
in  directions  which  have  led  them  farther  and  farther 
aloof.  The  statutes  against  Separatists  doubtless  made 
Baptists  of  a  number  of  churches  which  would  other- 
wise have  been  Congregational.  The  amount  of  ad- 
verse influence  exerted  in  these  ways  may  be  differ- 
ently estimated ;  it  can  scarcely  have  been  other  than 
considerable;  and  this  is  not  so  much  to  be  seen  in  the 
more  immediate  and  direct  results  as  in  the  more  slow 
and  silent  working  of  a  feeling  of  alienation.  The  re- 
strictions placed  by  Congregationalists  themselves  upon 
their  own  church  order  through  oppressive  customs  and 
civil  enactments,  however  well  meant,  have  invariably 
turned   towards  its  injury.^     They  are  the  weights  of 

1  See  Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  pp.  123 
and  263;  New-Englander,  vol.  xi.  p.  216;  Historical  Sketch,  etc.,  pp. 
168,  f.,  203,  and  note  on  p.  204. 


LECT.  X.]        EXCESS   OF   DOGMATIC   PREACHING.  343 

tradition  with  which  the   fathers   have   loaded   down 
their  children. 

This  feeling  of  alienation,  with  its  growmg  check 
upon  the  self-propagation  of  Congregationalism,  has 
doubtless  been  increased  by  the  exclusiveness  of  its 
theological  thinking  in  the  shape  of  Calvinistic  dogma, 
and  the  exclusiveness  of  its  dogmatic  preaching.  This 
fault  or  weakness  has  not  consisted  in  excess  of  doc- 
trine, or  even  in  excessive  height  of  supralapsarian 
doctrine.  In  the  experience  of  thfe  churches  and  in  the 
practice  of  effective  Christian  preaching,  very  high  Cal- 
vinism and  very  low  Arminianism  may  join  hands  for 
the  work  of  winning  souls.  The  man  who  believes  that 
he  is  elected  may  have  essentially  the  same  faith  as  the 
man  who  knows  that  he  is  converted.  The  common 
people  have  no  more  invincible  objection  to  Calvinistic 
than  to  Armininian  doctrine ;  but  they  have  a  very  just 
and  acute  sense  of  repulsion  towards  those  churches 
and  preachers  who  substitute  dogma  for  Christ's  doc- 
trine, and  who  spend  their  strength  in  confuting  the 
alleged  dogmatic  errors  of  their  brethren  rather  than 
in  joining  their  voices  to  proclaim  those  truths  of  the 
gospel  upon  which  all  Christians  may  unite.  We  are 
sometimes  Reminded  that  the  low  state  of  the  Congrega- 
tional churches  preceding  the  Great  Awakening  of  1740, 
and  again  preceding  the  Unitarian  schism,  was  inti- 
mately connected,  as  cause  with  effect,  with  the  holding 
and  teaching  of  Arminian  doctrine ;  yes,  and  with  the 
holding  and  teaching  of  Calvinistic  doctrine  as  well. 
But  the  cold,  flat,  nerveless  Arminianism  of  some  Con- 
gregational pastors  in  those  days  was  not  more  like  the 
warm,  earnest,  aggressive  Arminianism  of  Methodism 
than  the  Calvinism  of  certain  other  pastors  was  like 
the  Calvinism  of  Paul.     Calling  the  mother-bird  by  her 


344  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

generic  name  will  not  enable  her  to  warm  her  porcelain 
nest-eggs  into  a  callow  brood.  Not  the  warm  conviction 
of  Christian  doctrine  frankly  preached,  but  the  haughty 
and  separatist  way  of  promulgating  dogma,  was  that 
which  alienated  the  people  from  our  ministry  and 
churches.  The  truth  of  Calvinism  should  be  a  sword 
to  pierce,  and  not  an  axe  to  hew,  from  their  adherence 
to  us,  the  hearts  of  the  perishing  multitudes. 

Moreover,  a  certain  lack  of  organism,  or,  if  you  please, 
of  organization,  for  expressing  and  enforcing  the  power 
of  our  church  life,  was  a  weakness  of  Congregationalism 
during  the  century  of  which  we  now  speak.  Much 
love  has  run  to  waste  for  lack  of  channels  to  conserve 
and  convey  its  blessing :  much  more  has  been  wasted 
in  dispute  over  the  preparation  of  its  own  channels  of 
communication.  Whenever  speech  is  heard  urging  the 
need  of  more  organization,  certain  minds  at  once  in- 
terpret the  speech  as  signifying  more  organized  potver. 
"What  is  really  needed  is  more  of  organized  fellowship 
and  labor :  these,  when  organized,  constitute  concrete 
and  manifest  and  effective  power. 

To  these  and  kindred  weaknesses,  which  have  thus 
far  seemed  more  or  less  closely  inherent  in  New-Eng- 
land Congregationalism,  and  which,  in  a  measure,  ac- 
count for  its  failure  to  realize  fully  the  true  church 
polity,  and  for  its  slow  self-propagation,  we  must  add 
certain  others  of  a  somewhat  different  class. 

Certain  more  distinctively  moral  blemishes  in  some 
of  our  prominent  men,  and  in  many  of  our  churches, 
retarded  the  self-propagation  of  Congregationalism  dur- 
ing the  century  from  1776  to  1876.  Of  these  blemishes 
the  most  damaging  in  effect,  and,  it  is  to  be  feared, 
most  selfish  in  motive,  has  been  the  large  indifferentism 
so  widely  displa3'ed.     It  should  be  taken  for  granted 


LECT.  X.]      FAILTJEE  OF  EFFORT   FOR   GROWTH.  345 

that  we  can  have  no  right  to  complain  of  the  weakness 
of  our  polity  until  the  manly  strength  of  its  adherents 
has  been  generously  given  to  it.  To  make  new  ma- 
chinery for  doing  the  work  which  belongs  only  to  men 
to  accomplish,  is  plausible  in  scheme,  but  disappointing 
in  result. 

The  very  brief  answer  of  Dr.  Noyes  ^  to  the  question, 
"  Why  has  not  Congregationalism  proper  occupied  all 
the  land  ?  "  —  "  It  did  not  try,"  —  does  not  contain  the 
entire  truth :  it  contains,  however,  the  essential  truth. 
For,  as  Dr.  Post  has  declared,^  self-diffusion  is  a  neces- 
sity of  Congregationalism,  and  its  great  means  is  "  self- 
indoctrination,  the  interpenetration  of  our  body  with  a 
more  distinctive,  appreciative,  grateful  self-conscious- 
ness." But  the  more  prominent  men  in  our  ministry 
from  1750  to  1850  have  been  accused,  and  apparently 
by  no  means  without  justice,  of  taking  little  interest  in 
the  doctrine  of  the  true  Christian  church,  or  in  the 
Congregational  way  of  constituting  churches.  Yet 
even  this  indifference  of  our  more  prominent  leaders 
was  scarcely  so  hurtful  as  the  wide-spread  indifference 
of  Congregational  laymen,  shown  at  once  on  leaving 
New  England  for  residence  in  other  regions  of  this 
country.  All  the  other  churches,  but  especially  the 
Presbyterian  and  Episcopalian,  contain  large  numbers 
of  the  sons  and  daughters  of  this  ancient  mother.  For 
this  unfaithfulness,  if  unfaithfulness  it  is  to  be  called, 
two  reasons  are  usually  assigned ;  or  rather  one  reason, 
which  is  seen  and  described  from  two  points  of  view. 
Congregationalists,  it  is  sometimes  said,  are  very  wisely 
liberal  with  regard  to  church  government :  they  believe 
that  its  form  is  a  mere  matter  of  expediency,  and  that 

1  See  article  in  New-Englander,  July,  1879,  p.  510. 

2  Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Connecticut,  pp.  93,  ff. 


346  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

a  man  can  of  clioice,  without  any  abandonment  of  prin- 
ciple, be  a  member  of  a  Congregational  church  in  New 
England,  and  a  member  of  a  Presbyterian  or  an  Epis- 
copal church  in  New  York  or  New  Jersey.  We  Con- 
gregationalists,  say  others,  are  not  sectarian  enough ; 
we  must  ourselves  have  the  same  rigid  denominational- 
ism  which  works  so  well  with  other  church  orders ;  we 
must  train  the  members  of  our  churches  more  strictly 
in  the  spirit  and  practice  of  denominationalism,  or  we 
shall  continue  to  lose  them.  Let  us,  however,  seek  clear 
light  upon  this  important  matter.  Congregationalism, 
strictly  speaking,  has  lost  her  own  sons  and  daughters, 
neither  because  she  has  been  too  wisely  liberal  nor 
because  she  has  not  been  sectarian  enough.  And,  if  the 
disease  has  not  been  too  much  charity,  the  cure  is  not 
more  sectarianism ;  but,  if  the  disease  has  been  too 
much  indifference,  the  cure  is  more  of  principle.  Were 
a  lack  of  sectarian  or  denominational  zeal  the  real 
reason  of  our  losses,  and  were  the  remedy  for  these  losses 
the  increase  of  such  zeal,  we  should  have  no  right  to 
apply  the  remedy,  we  should  rather,  by  the  law  of 
Christ,  be  compelled  to  rejoice  in  such  losses.  But 
why  cannot  the  disciples  of  Christ  in  general  and  the 
adherents  of  our  church  order  in  particular  learn  thor- 
oughly these  truths, — that  indifferentism  is  selfishness 
or  ignorance,  and  not  charity,  and  that  intelligent  adher- 
ence to  principles  in  the  due  order  of  their  importance 
is  not  to  be  confounded  with  sectarian  zeal? 

Religious  formalism  is  another  of  those  more  distinc- 
tively moral  failings  which  must  be  held  to  be  the  par- 
tial causes  of  the  slow  propagation  of  our  church  order. 
The  lack  of  warm  and  hearty  religious  life  has  taken, 
at  times,  the  form  of  secret  or  open  opposition  to  the 
spirit  of  revivalism.     The  spirit  of  revivalism  is  inti- 


LECT.  X.]  OPPOSITION   TO   REVIVALISM.  347 

mately  connected  with  the  material  principle  of  Congre- 
gationalism, and  revivals  of  religion  have  been,  to  a  large 
extent,  the  means  divinely  employed  to  maintain  and 
increase  the  number  of  Congregational  churches.     The 
acknowledgment  and  use  of  this  means  is  not,  indeed, 
peculiar  to  any  church  order;  but  many  of  the  most 
vigorous  and  successful  leaders  of  revivalism  in  New 
England   have    been  Congregational  pastors.     The  re- 
actions of  the  churches  from  their  periods  of  religious 
depression    and    defection   have  been  into  a  period  of 
revival.      The    "Great  Awakening"  of   1740  and  the 
subsequent  awakenings  were  religious  re-actions  against 
the    cold  formalism  which  had  both  its  cause  and  its 
expression  in  the  Half-way  Covenant.     The  "  little  re- 
viving," which  led  on  to  another  "  Great  Awakening  " 
after  the  war  of  the    Revolution,  was   a   spiritual  re- 
action against  the  infidelity,  immorality,  and  formalism 
which  grew  out  of  that  war.     As  we  have  already  had 
occasion  to  notice,  it  was  the  remarkable  phenomena  of 
these    revivals  which  led  Neander  to  solicit  his  pupil 
Uhden  to  write  the  history  of  New-England  Congre- 
gationalism   from    a    "psychological    view."     Revivals 
can,  then,  no  more  be  deemed  alien  to  our  polity  than 
can  the  supplement  for  their  work  which  is  found  in 
Christian  nurture,  and  which  has  been  always  in  theory, 
and  generally  in  practice,  made  essential  by  our  polity. 
Yet   must   it  be    confessed    that    these  awakenings, 
which  were  re-actions  against  the  formalism  of  a  slum- 
bering church,  have  themselves  been  made  the  occasions 
of  great  debate  and  oppugnancy,  as  well  as  no  small 
amount  of   schism.     As  a  body  of  churches,  we  have 
nearly  always  manifested  far  more  of  formalism  than 
we  are  apt  to  think.    Many  of  the  most  vigorous,  indis- 
criminating,   and   unconscionable   opponents   of  reviv- 


348  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  x,. 

alism  have  been  Congregational  pastors.  Both  during 
and  after  these  seasons  of  religious  awakening  there  has 
been  far  too  little  disposition  in  the  New-England 
church  polity  to  receive  its  blessings  with  thanksgiving, 
and  to  spend  time  and  strength  in  improvement  of  them, 
rather  than  in  debate  over  them.  Congregationalists 
have  been  wont  to  look  with  suspicion  upon  the  crass 
methods,  the  sudden  and  sweeping  successes,  the  rather 
doubtful  and  debatable  net  results,  of  many  of  the 
revivals  of  Methodism.  There  is  enough  in  the  phe- 
nomena to  justify  the  suspicion.  But  may  we  not  also 
recognize  the  fault  in  ourselves,  that  by  crass  methods 
of  opposing  revivals,  by  sudden  and  sweeping  denun- 
ciations of  great  successes,  by  doubt  and  debate,  instead 
of  thanksgiving  over  results,  we  have  sometimes 
brought  to  the  church  of  Christ,  and  to  our  own  church 
order,  even  greater  cause  of  suspicion?  Many  flicker- 
ing lights  which  soon  go  out  to  leave  a  smell  behind 
do  not,  indeed,  adorn  the  candlestick  of  the  Lord.  But, 
when  the  "Old  Lights"  and  the  "New  Lights"  so 
sputter  against  each  other  that  they  cannot  be  kept 
alight  in  the  same  candlestick,  it  is  surely  not  adorned 
withal.  The  most  deeply  seated  and  dangerous  formal- 
ism does  not  consist  in  ritualistic  observances.  The 
haughtiness  of  formalism  is  no  less  displeasing  in  the 
sight  of  Heaven  than  are  the  excessses  of  revivalism  :  it 
is  even  more  displeasing  in  the  sight  of  the  multitudes. 
This  incomplete  estimate  of  the  causes  for  the  relative 
decline  of  Congregationalism  would  be  made  even  more 
interesting  and  instructive,  could  it  be  compared  with 
other  estimates  of  the  same  causes  which  have  been 
made  in  years  long  since  past,  when,  indeed,  the  men 
of  those  years  told  the  tale  of  their  sorrows  in  the  years 
then  past  to  them.     Especially  interesting  and  instruc- 


LECT.  X.]         EAELY   COMPLAINTS   OP   DECLINE.  349 

tive  is  the  account  given  of  the  causes  of  the  decline  of 
Congregationalism  by  the  synod  of  Boston,  Sept.  10, 
1679.  The  question  before  this  synod  had  reference, 
indeed,  rather  to  a  decline  in  quality  than  in  relative 
quantity  of  members.  But  certain  answers  to  the  ques- 
tion —  those,  for  example,  which  recount  merely  such 
manifestations  of  evil  as  need  themselves  to  be  ac- 
counted for,  or  else  lay  great  stress  upon  too  much  tol- 
eration of  unimportant  differences  in  opinion  —  exhibit 
the  same  unsatisfactoriness  or  excessive  self-excuse  with 
which  we  in  our  day  are  wont  to  meet  a  similar  prob- 
lem. Others,  and  these  the  majority  of  the  answers 
rendered  by  this  synod,  duly  assign  the  true  and  self- 
accusmg  account  of  the  lamented  decline.  Doubtless 
the  solemn  covenant  which  they  urged  U23on  the 
churches,  —  a  covenant  "  to  reform  heart  and  life,  to 
walk  before  God  in  the  house  with  a  perfect  heart,  and 
to  be  pure  from  the  sins  o£  the  times,"  —  if  it  had  been 
practised  as  it  was  pledged,  would  have  checked  this 
decline. 

In  1705  we  find  another  interesting  indication  of  the 
special  sorrows  which  Congregationalism  had  already 
endured  through  the  neglect  of  her  own  children,  in  the 
quotation  from  Isa.  li.  18,  placed  by  Rev.  John  Wise 
upon  the  front  leaf  of  his  "  Vindication  of  the  Govern- 
ment of  New-England  Churches :  "  "  There  is  none  to 
guide  her  among  all  the  sons  whom  she  hath  brought 
forth ;  neither  is  there  any  that  taketh  her  by  the  hand 
of  all  the  sons  that  she  hath  brought  up."  A  right 
noble  grip  upon  the  hand  of  his  forlorn  mother  is  that 
professed  by  this  Ispwich  pastor.  But,  as  is  usual  in  all 
such  cases,  the  outreaching  of  this  hand  for  helping  was 
regarded  by  some  as  though  it  were  a  most  damaging 
blow. 


350  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.  [lect,  x. 

In  conclusion,  let  tlie  inquiry  be  raised  for  a  brief 
answer,  How  may  the  self-propagation  of  a  true  churcli 
polity  be  rendered  more  efficient  ?  In  reply  I  ask  you 
to  supplement  with  your  own  thought  the  following 
elements  of  an  answer :  — 

1.  The  true  church  polity  must  be  propagated  as  a 
matter  of  conviction  and  of  adherence  to  principles.  In 
as  far  as  Congregationalism  is  such  a  polity,  it  must  be 
thus  propagated.  The  motive  of  expediency  or  of  secta- 
rian zeal  is  not  a  sufficient,  trustworthy,  and  abiding 
motive.  As  a  sect  or  an  expedient,  Congregationalism 
is  not  worthy  of  propagating  at  all.  The  government 
of  Christ's  churches  is  not  a  matter  left  to  expediency. 
The  principles  of  ehurch  government  are  to  be  under- 
stood as  principles^  valued  as  principles,  propagated  as 
principles. 

2.  We  must  educate  our  ministry,  and,  through  the 
ministry,  all  the  members  of  our  churches,  in  the  knowl- 
edge and  love  of  these  principles.  Congregational  min- 
isters should  be  Congregationalists,  if  at  all,  then,  from 
principle.  To  aid  toward  this  end  is  this  Lectureship, 
as  I  suppose,  constituted  and  perpetually  to  be  em- 
ployed. Let  the  usefulness  of  this  present  Course  of 
Lectures  be  to  convince  at  least  a  few  Congregational 
ministers  that  their  church  order  is  worthy  of  deepest 
researches,  most  ardent  love,  most  efficient  and  self- 
sacrificing  labors.  The  members  of  Congregational 
churches  should  be  trained  to  intelligent  convictions 
regarding  the  spiritual  worthiness  of  this  their  church 
order.  This  is  the  only  possible  substitute  for  a  secta- 
rian zeal  which  is  intolerable  to- our  church  order,  and 
impossible  to  obtain  from  its  members. 

3.  Greater  pains  should  be  taken  to  avoid  losing  so 
large  numbers  of  our  own  sons  and  daughters.     The 


LECT.  X.]  MEANS   OF   SELF-PKOPAGATION.  351 

members  of  our  congregations,  on  changing  residence, 
should  be  definitely  commended  and  directed  to  Con- 
gregational churches  in  their  new  places  of  residence. 
They  should  not  go  from  their  old  homes  to  their  new 
ones  under  the  impression  that  it  is  matter  of  indiffer- 
ence what  their  church  connections  may  become.  They 
should  even  be  kindly  remonstrated  with  for  ill-consid- 
ered changes. 

4.  A  more  hearty,  unfeigned,  and  effective  commun- 
ion of  churches  should  confirm  those  which  are  feeble, 
lest  our  self-propagation  be  diminished  by  theu'  passing 
from  the  face  of  the  earth.  This  office  of  the  commun- 
ion of  churches  in  the  self-propagation  of  Congregation- 
alism has  already  been  sufficiently  considered. 

5.  The  specific  means  for  a  wise  multiplication  of 
churches  of  this  order  in  our  own  land  should  be  more 
vigorously  used  and  thriftily  supported.  Among  such 
means  are  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society,  the 
American  Missionary  Association,  and  the  Congrega- 
tional Union. 

6.  The  missionary  work  of  the  churches  in  foreign 
lands  should  be  recognized  as  a  work  of  self-propagation. 
To  this  most  important  of  all  the  considerations  now 
before  us,  we  return  in  the  next  Lecture. 

7.  All  appropriate  means  for  promoting  and  express- 
ing a  real  unity  in  a  manifest  oneness  of  organization 
are  in  place  for  the  purposes  of  self-propagation.  Only 
must  we  always  remember  that  the  result  of  enforced 
oneness  is  scliism,  and  that  the  organization  needed  is 
not  organized  power  other  than  the  power  which  is  in 
organized  fellowship  and  organized  work.  On  the  other 
hand,  they  must  cease  provoking  schism  who  would 
divide  our  churches  upon  irrelevant  issues,  or  drive 
them  together  into  a  semblance  of  denommational  com- 
pact. 


352  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

8.  Finally,  we  must  give  more  of  our  manhood  to 
the  study  of  these  principles  and  to  their  propagation  in 
the  concrete  form  of  New-Testament  churches ;  we  must 
do  this  in  the  conviction  that  the  true  church  polity 
is  worthy  of  study  and  labors,  to  the  end  that  it  may 
prevail  throughout  Christendom.  To  the  complaint,  so 
hackneyed,  so  disagreeable,  so  much  trumpeted  within 
our  own  lines,  so  true,  that  Congregationalism  has 
shown  a  great  lack  of  definiteness,  pith,  grip,  and  skill 
in  meeting  emergencies,  I  make  the  following  reply. 
Congregationalism  has  indeed  shown  a  certain  great 
and  lamentable  lack.  It  has  exhibited  an  obvious  need 
of  improvement.  The  need  is  not,  however,  one  of 
new  principles.  It  is  not  pre-eminently  the  need  of 
many  new  ways  of  applying  the  old  principles.  Doubt- 
less we  are  called  from  time  to  time  to  venture  upon 
new  expedients  as  new  emergencies  arise  :  this  venture 
we  may  freely  and  bravely  make.  But  the  great  and 
'permanent  need  of  our  'polity  is  the  need  of  Christian  man- 
hood in  our  ministry  and  in  our  laity,  cultivated  and 
brought  to  hear  upon  the  loorking  of  our  polity.  The  type 
of  manhood  in  our  church  order  has  been  superior  rather 
than  inferior ;  hut  it  has  not  heen  given  to  the  churches 
under  the  forms  instituted  hy  Congregationalism.  We 
need  our  Christian  manhood  put  into  our  polity.  We 
need  that  the  highest  wisdom,  skill,  courage,  kindness, 
and  devotion  should  be  consecrated  to  and  used  in  the 
administration  of  our  church  order. 

A  machine  will  run  of  itself  until  its  communicated 
force  is  exhausted.  If  it  needs  drivers,  a  few  men  will 
drive  machinery  enough  to  do  the  work  of  scores  of 
other  men.  But  Congregationalism  is  not  an  ecclesi- 
astical machine.  An  organism,  however,  must  grow  in 
every  part  and  by  the  co-ordinated  motion  of  all  its  con- 


LECT.  X.]  MEANS   FOE,   SELF-PROPAGATION.  353 

stituent  vital  particles.  Vital  particles  in  our  organism 
are  all  our  sons  and  daughters.  If  the  ministers  and 
laymen  of  Congregational  churches  will  give  generously 
of  their  manhood,  their  time,  their  thought,  their  money, 
their  faithful  and  kindly  painstaking,  to  the  cause  of  a 
true  church  polity,  its  one  only  alarming  and  comprehen- 
sive need  will  be  met.  But  if  they  so  spend,  lavish,  and 
squander  upon  other  causes,  or  so  hoard  for  them  their 
Christian  manhood,  that  little  or  none  can  be  given 
to  such  a  polity,  will  it  be  a  cause  for  wonder  that 
the  polity  languishes  toward  death?  In  the  event  of 
continuing  such  neglect,  one  of  two  issues  will  surely 
result:  either  —  because  the  multitudes  refrain- from 
her  conventions,  conferences,  councils,  and  benevolent 
boards  —  her  work  of  self-propagation  will  fall  into  the 
hands  of  the  willing  few,  or  it  will  wholly  cease.  When 
the  few,  the  ready  clerical  or  lay  manipulators,  assume 
control,  Congregationalism  will  be  no  longer  a  true 
church  polity,  although,  perhaps,  continuing  to  bear  a 
once  honored  name :  it  will  become  a  new  ecclesiastical 
denomination  among  the  others  which  now  exist.  It 
will  be  an  organization,  another  sect,  and  it  may  for  a 
time  work  well ;  but  it  will  be  reserved  for  others  to  es- 
tablish yet  again  a  principled  church  polity.  In  the  event 
of  universal  neglect,  however,  the  indwelling  life  of  an 
order  bearing  the  name  Congregational  will  more  and 
more  retreat  upon  its  centres,  only  at  the  last  wholly 
to  disappear.  But,  should  that  which  has  been  called 
Congregationalism  cease  to  propagate  itself  according 
to  recognizable  ancient  forms,  there  would  still  arise  a 
larger  and  larger  number  of  New-Testament  churches 
upon  the  earth.  For  these  principles  will  not  die  :  they 
will  rather  live  in  concrete  forms.  We  do  not,  then, 
despair  of  the  self-propagation  of  the  true  church  polity 


354  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  x. 

by  the  multiplication  of  Congregational  churches  in 
their  forms  of  institution  and  communion  essentially 
the  same  as  the  so-called  Congregational  churches  in 
this  country  have  thus  far  always  been.  For  to  despair 
of  the  propagation  of  Congregationalism  —  meaning  by 
this  the  growth  of  New-Testament  principles  of  church 
order  as  embodied  in  particular  visible  churches  — 
would  be  to  despair  of  a  progressive,  free,  and  abiding 
organization  of  the  Christian  Church  itself. 


LECTURE   XI. 

CONGEEGATIONALISM   AND   FOEEIGIS"  MISSIONS. 

Aristotle,  and  the  schoolmen  in  their  following  of 
this  great  master,  distinguished  all  causes  as  either 
efficient,  material,  formal,  or  final ;  and  among  these 
Aristotle  gave  the  pre-eminence  to  the  final  cause.  The 
most  important  question,  then,  which  can  be  asked  con- 
cerning any  material  or  spiritual  structure,  is  the  ques- 
tion as  to  TO  ov  (vena,  —  the  question  not  simply  how  or 
why,  but  what  for  P  The  pre-eminence  of  this  question 
is  thought  to  be  especially  manifest  in  the  case  of  such 
more  complex  and  highly  organized  social  and  spiritual 
structures  as  is  the  Christian  Church.  The  question 
after  the  final  cause  of  the  particular  visible  church 
ought,  therefore,  to  excite  the  distinctive  interest  of 
Congregationalists ;  for  the  doctrine  of  the  particular 
visible  church  is  a  specialty  with  Congregationalists. 
Having  learned  by  whom,  and  out  of  what  material,  and 
by  the  action  of  what  subordinate  forces,  a  Christian 
church  should  be  instituted  and  governed,  we  are  ready 
the  more  eagerly  to  ask.  For  what  great  end,  or  purpose, 
is  it  thus  instituted  and  governed  ?  The  answer  to  this 
question  is  not,  for  the  diligent  inquirer,  either  far  to 
seek  or  difficult  to  find.  We  may  readily  recognize  and 
emphasize  a  certain  principle  as  organific  in  the  forma- 
tion and  control  of  each  particular  visible  Congregational 

355 


356  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.        [lect.  xi. 

church.  Every  such  church  is  organized  for  some  end : 
it  is  the  idea  of  that  end  which  rightly  organizes  it  as  a 
church.  It  is  the  final  purpose  which  gives  the  laws  of 
adjustment  and  proportion  to  all  the  different  members 
and  organs  of  a  church  body  politic,  and  which  dis- 
tributes and  energizes  the  functions  of  those  organs. 

What  is,  then,  the  organific  purpose,  the  final  cause, 
of  every  true  Christian  Church?  It  is  the  spread  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth.  In  order  that  it  may 
the  better  serve  as  means  to  this  end,  it  is  organized  as 
a  church.  To  this  end  it  exists,  and  is  a  true  church  of 
Jesus  Christ.  This  one  final  cause  is,  however,  twofold : 
it  includes  the  two  elements  of  edification  and  evan- 
gelism. Every  particular  visible  church  exists  in  order 
that  it  may  build  its  own  members  up  into  Christ :  a 
part  of  its  final  purpose  is  to  make  itself  a  wiser,  more 
righteous,  holy,  and  blessed  church.  But  every  partic- 
ular visible  church  also  exists  in  order  that  it  may  make 
other  men  Christians :  a  part  of  its  final  purpose  is  to 
do  its  part  in  winning  the  world  to  Christ.  There  is 
thus  given  both  an  element  intensive  and  an  element 
extensive  in  the  complete  final  purpose  of  the  church ; 
and  every  particular  congregation  of  believers  holds 
its  right  to  existence,  its  ratio  essendi,  in  the  twofold 
intent  to  edify  its  own  members  and  to  evangelize  the 
world. 

These  two  elements  of  the  one  great  final  cause 
necessarily  co-exist,  and  wax  or  wane  in  cogency  to- 
gether. But  we  may  truthfully  claim  that  the  element 
of  evangelism  is,  both  in  the  order  of  time  and  in  that  of 
logic,  prior  to  the  element  of  church  edification.  The 
gospel  must  be  ]3i"eached,  and  men  converted,  before 
those  same  men  can  enter  into  mutual  covenant  to  help 
each  other  in  the  conversation  and  life  of  the  gospel. 


£ECT.  XI.]       THE  PRECEDENCE   OF   EVANGELISM.  357 

The  missionary  will,  in  some  sort,  take  precedence  of  the 
pastor,  until  the  whole  world  is  gathered  unto  Christ. 
Our  Lord  himself  in  person  commanded  his  disciples 
to  go  and  disciple  all  the  nations,  and  gave  them 
instruction  as  to  the  spirit  and  equipment  for  their 
missionary  journey :  he  did  this  in  person  before  he  in 
the  Spirit  organized  and  equipped  with  officers  the  local 
church.  And  we  read  concerning  the  distribution  of 
those  charisms  which  are  all  of  them,  even  including 
those  of  the  inspired  authors  of  Scripture  and  founders 
of  New-Testament  churches,  given  for  the  sake  of  the 
entire  community  of  believers,  "  First  apostles,  second 
prophets,  third  teachers,"  or,  "  Some  apostles,  and 
some  prophets,  and  some  evangelists,  and  some  pastors 
and  teachers."  But  apostles  and  evangelists  are  mis- 
sionaries rather  than  pastors ;  and  prophets  are  needed 
quite  as  much  for  the  work  of  evangelizing  the  world 
as  for  the  edifjdng  of  the  church. 

In  view  of  the  pre-eminence  given  by  the  true  church 
polity  to  the  exclusive  rulership  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
to  the  responsibility  for  self-movement  and  self-control 
of  the  particular  churches,  it  seems  indeed  strange  that 
the  missionary  element  of  the  final  cause  of  every 
church  has  been  in  our  definitions  and  discussions  so 
little  recognized.  A  nobler  setting-forth  of  the  nature 
of  a  particular  visible  church  than  that  given  by  Rev. 
John  Davenport  (already  alluded  to)  it  would  be  diffi- 
cult to  find.  The  Aristotelian  division  of  causes  seems 
to  have  shaped  the  division  of  Davenport's  treatise.^ 
The  efficient  cause  of  a  particular  visible  church  is 
Christ  himself :  the  material  cause  is  those  persons  who 
believe  on  and  confess  Christ :  the  formal  cause  is  the 

1  The  Power  of  Congregational  Churches  Asserted  and  Vindicated, 
chaps,  i.-iii. 


358  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.  [lect.  xr. 

mutual  covenanting  of  these  believers.  But  why  does 
not  Davenport  go  on  with  equal  clearness  to  declare 
what  is  the  final  cause  of  the  particular  church  ?  The 
power  and  compass,  the  institution  and  officers,  of  the 
church,  are  all  by  this  author  faithfully  described. 
But  the  question,  To  what  end  or  final  cause  has  Christ 
(the  efficient  cause)  so  bound  the  members  (the  mate- 
rial cause)  together  by  their  mutual  covenanting  (the 
formal  cause)  ?  is  not  even  plainly  proposed.  The  ques- 
tion is,  indeed,  to  some  extent,  indirectly  answered ; 
the  members  of  the  church  are  spoken  of  as  the  instru- 
ments of  Christ's  work ;  the  work  of  the  Church  is 
alluded  to,  and  its  ends  partially  stated.  But  this  great 
thought  —  the  very  constitution  of  each  church  exists 
in  order  that  it  may  as  a  church  act  in  converting  all 
the  world  into  the  church  —  is  nowhere  distinctly 
brought  forth.  The  power  of  the  keys  is  vindicated 
for  the  Congregational  church;  but  it  is  not  clearly 
made  manifest  that  this  power  of  the  keys  can  fitly 
belong  to,  and  duly  be  exercised  by,  only  a  missionary 
church. 

The  same  lack  of  completeness  in  their  conception 
of  a  church  is  almost  universal  with  our  writers.  They 
do  not  give  clear  recognition  to  the  pre-eminence  of 
that  twofold  final  cause  which  constitutes  an  organific 
principle  in  the  existence  of  every  particular  church. 
Even  that  eminently  thorough  and  thoughtful  writer, 
Rev.  John  Owen,  not  unfrequently  disappoints  us  in 
this  same  regard.  We  seem  at  times,  while  reading 
his  heavy  pages,  to  be  in  the  nearest  proximity  to  a  full 
recognition  of  the  missionary  jDower  and  missionary 
obligation  of  a  particular  visible  church.  One  of  his 
writings  ^  contains  a  very  tender  and  scriptural  discus- 

1  Eshcol :  a  Cluster  of  the  Fruit  of  Canaan.    Works,  vol.  xili. 


LECT.  xr.]      FAULTY  CONCEPTION   OF   A   CHURCH.  359 

sion  of  all  the  mutual  duties  of  Christians  in  church- 
fellowship  ;  another  ^  discusses  "  the  means  to  be  used 
by  the  people  of  God  (distinct  from  the  church  officers) 
for  the  increasing  of  divine  knowledge  in  themselves 
and  others."  But  the  stirring  of  one  another  to  mis- 
sionary zeal  is  not  treated  among  these  mutual  duties : 
the  use  of  lay-evangelization  does  not  appear  among 
the  means  for  increasing  divine  knowledge  which  are 
permitted  to  the  laity.  In  his  argument  that  Congre- 
gational churches  are  indeed  suited  to  the  ends  of 
Christ,^  we  might  certainly  expect  to  see  some  mention 
of  the  relation  which  exists  between  a  particular  church 
Congregationally  organized,  and  that  great  end  of  the 
Saviour  of  mankind,  which  is  the  redemption  of  the 
world.  Indeed,  at  one  point  in  this  argument^  we 
seem  to  come  squarely  upon  a  recognition  of  this  truth. 
"  Another  end  "  of  the  institution  of  the  church-state 
is  declared  to  be,  that  the  church  might  be  "  the  prin- 
cipal outward  means  to  support,  preserve,  publish, 
declare,  and  propagate  the  doctrine  or  truth  of  the 
gospel."  But  in  the  consideration  of  this  end  the 
author  simply  shows  how  the  Congregational  system 
of  church  order  is  best  adapted  to  preserve  itself  from 
heresies,  and  to  conform  itself  to  every  form  of  righteous 
earthly  government. 

Those  noteworthy  definitions  of  a  church  in  which 
the  writers  on  Congregationalism  abound,  quite  uni- 
formly emphasize  the  use  of  the  church  to  the  end  of 
its  own  edifying;  but  rarely  do  they  mention  its  rela- 
tion to  the  end  of  converting  the  world.  "  To  worship 
the  Lord,  and   to   edifie  one  another  in   all  his   holy 

1  The  Duty  of  Pastors  and  People  Distinguished.    Ibid.,  vol.  xiii. 

2  Inquiry  concerning  Evangelical  Churches.    Ibid.,  vol.  xv. 
8  Works,  XV.  p.  306. 


360  PEINCTPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.        [lect.  xi, 

ordinances,"  ^  is  apparently  regarded  by  them  all  as 
the  sole  final  purpose  of  a  Congregational  church. 
"  For  the  public  worship  of  God,  and  the  mutual  edifi- 
cation one  of  another,  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,"  is  the  statement  proposed  by  our  Platform  of 
the  end  of  such  a  church.  To  this  hour  the  accepted 
Congregational  definitions  of  a  particular  visible  church 
of  Christ  are  lamentably  deficient  in  clear  recognition 
of  that  very  end  for  which  Christ  called  all  the  churches 
into  being,  and  gave  them  the  law  of  their  life.  That 
every  congregation  of  true  believers  should  be  organized 
upon  the  basis  of  distinct  recognition  in  its  church 
covenant  of  this  its  great  final  cause  and  obligation  in 
the  conversion  of  the  world,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  assert. 
That  a  Congregational  council  should,  before  organ- 
izing in  fellowship  any  new  church,  insist  upon  proofs 
of  this  recognition,  is  much  more  important  than  that  it 
should  require  an  extended  dogmatic  statement  of  belief. 

It  would,  however,  be  an  inexcusable  blunder  to 
imply  that  our  church  order  has  been,  either  absolutely, 
or  relatively  to  others,  remiss  in  practical  recognition 
of  the  divine  obligation  to  make  every  local  church  a 
centre  of  missionary  zeal  and  missionary  work.  Indeed, 
Uhden  notes  ^  these  two  special  characteristics  of  the 
missionary  enterprise  of  the  New-England  churches: 
(1)  The  early  stage  of  their  existence  (indeed,  only  a 
few  years  after  their  own  founding)  at  which  it  began 
to  flourish ;  and  (2)  That  the  race  which  they  attempted 
to  evangelize  was  one  recognized  as  foreign,  and  in 
civilization  decidedly  below  themselves. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  go  beyond  the  mention  of 
a  few  facts  in  illustration  of  this  forwardness  of  the 

1  See  Cotton's  Doctrine  of  the  Church  and  its  Government. 

2  See  New-England  Theocracy,  p.  81. 


LECT.  XI.]       EAELY  MISSIONARY  EKTERPEISES.  361 

New-England  Congregational  churclies  in  missionary 
enterprise.^  The  purposes  of  the  fathers  in  coming  to 
America  encompassed  this  great  final  purpose  of  the 
Christian  Church.  Among  the  reasons  which  urged 
them  to  removal  from  Leyden  we  find  enumerated : 
"  Lastly  (and  which  was  not  least),  a  great  hope  & 
inward  zeall  they  had  of  laying  some  good  foundation, 
or  at  least 'to  make  some  way  thereunto,  for  y^  propa- 
gating &  advancing  y®  gospell  of  y®  kingdom  of  Christ 
in  those  remote  parts  of  y®  world;  yea,  though  they 
should  be  but  even  as  stepping-stones  unto  others  for 
y®  performing  of  so  great  a  work."  ^  Cotton  Mather 
tells  us  ^  that  Higginson,  when  setting  sail  from  the  Isle 
of  Wight,  and  bidding  farewell  to  England,  exclaimed, 
"  We  go  to  practise  the  positive  part  of  church  refor- 
mation, and  propagate  the  gospel  in  America."  The 
charter  of  Massachusetts  made  it  the  duty  of  the  settlers 
"  to  win  and  incite  the  natives  of  that  country  to  the 
knowledge  and  obedience  of  the  only  true  God  and 
Saviour  of  mankind."  The  establishment  of  an  Indian 
college  for  the  education  of  a  native  ministry  followed 
not  long  after  the  establishment  of  Harvard  itself.  At 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  with  King  Philip,  in  1674, 
notable  advances  in  evangelizing  these  savage  tribes 
had  already  been  made.  Three  villages  of  praying 
Indians  could  be  counted,  with  an  aggregate  population 
of  between   four   thousand   and   five   thousand   souls.* 

1  Fuller  statements  of  this  truth  and  of  the  corresponding  facts  of 
history  may  be  found  in  these,  among  other  writings:  Dexter,  Congre- 
gationalism, pp.  228,  340;  Historical  Sketch,  etc.,  pp.  46,  61,  79,  229; 
article  of  Dr.  Gushing,  Congregational  Quarterly,  October,  1876;  article 
of  Dr.  Leonard  Bacon,  in  New-Englander,  August,  1860. 

2  Bradford's  Plymouth  Plantation,  p.  24. 
8  Magnalia,  Book  III.  1  §  11,  f. 

*  See  Clark's  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Congregational  Churches  of 
Massachusetts,  p.  78,  f. 


362  PRINCIPLES  OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  xi. 

It  was  the  early  missions  of  the  New-England  churches 
to  the  Indians  which  called  into  being  the  oldest  mis- 
sionary board  in  Great  Britain :  this  board  was  at  first 
known  as  the  "  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel 
among  the  Indians  in  North  America."  The  attempts 
of  Congregationalism  at  home  missions  began  as  early 
in  this  country  as  1642,  when  three  Congregational 
pastors  were  "  spared "  to  go  to  the  "  Upper  New 
Farms  "  of  Virginia. 

From  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  until  toward  the 
close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  little  of  genuine  mis- 
sionary zeal  appears  in  the  sermons  and  Avritings  of 
New-England  Congregational  pastors,  little  of  genuine 
missionary  work  was  attempted  by  the  churches.  Ex- 
cessive controversy  over  theological  issues,  excessive 
pressure  of  civil  and  military  affairs,  and  great  decline 
in  the  spiritual  life  of  the  churches,  caused  an  arrested 
development  of  missionary  zeal  and  work.  But  an 
occasional  voice  is  heard  from  the  pulpit,  which  has 
the  true  evangelistic  ring,  like  that,  for  instance,  of 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Gay,  who  declares,  "Commendable  is  the 
love  they  discover  to  souls,  who  preach  the  gospel  in 
those  places  of  the  land  where  it  was  little  known, 
and  as  little  is  done  for  the  support  of  it.  .  .  .  That 
such  ministers  do  as  well,  who,  overlookiug  those  which 
are  most  destitute  of  the  gospel,  strive  to  preach  it  only 
or  chiefly  in  places  where  there  are  fixed  and  faithful 
pastors,  remains  still  to  be  proved  by  them."  ^ 

The  first  formal  missionary  organization  in  Massa- 
chusetts was  the  Congregational  Missionary  Society  in 
the  counties  of  Berkshire  and  Columbia,  established 
in  1798.     On  the  28th  of  May,  1799,  the  Massachusetts 

1  "Words  found  in  a  Convention  Sermon  preached  at  Boston,  1746; 
volume  in  the  Library  of  Maine  Historical  Society. 


LECT.  XI.]       EAELY  MISSIO^STAEY  ENTEEPRISES.  363 

Missionary  Society  was  organized.  This  organization 
was  in  the  broadest  sense  a  missionary  society ;  its 
original  object  being  "  to  diffuse  the  knowledge  of  the 
gospel  among  the  heathens  as  well  as  other  people  in 
the  remote  parts  of  our  country,  where  Christ  is  seldom 
or  never  preached."  In  1774  the  first  notice  of  missions 
to  the  new  settlements  appears  on  the  records  of  the 
General  Association  of  Connecticut.  In  1800  their  first 
missionary,  the  Rev.  David  Bacon,  was  sent  forth  by 
this  organization.  At  the  beginning  of  this  century 
the  Connecticut  Missionary  Society  took  its  annual 
contribution  in  the  month  of  May,  from  "  all  the  con- 
gregations, by  virtue  of  a  brief  from  the  Governor,  and 
in  conformity  with  a  legislative  order."  ^  The  history 
of  the  origin  and  successes  of  the  American  Board  is 
too  well  known  to  need  rehearsal  here. 

Even  this  brief  survey  of  the  history  of  our  mission- 
ary enterprises  as  Congregational  churches  may  serve 
to  represent  to  our  minds  the  following  important 
truths  :  — 

The  thrift  and  intensity  of  missionary  zeal  are  very 
closely  related  to  a  true  and  complete  doctrine  of  the 
church.  The  fact  that  the  clearest  and  most  compre- 
hensive statements  extant  of  the  nature  and  office  of 
the  church  contain  so  meagre  a  recognition  of  the  true 
final  cause  of  the  church,  and  the  fact  that  the  church 
life  of  our  order  has  thus  far  been  so  meagrely  fruitful 
in  missionary  work,  are  connected  and  correlated  facts. 
The  Church  of  Jesus  Christ  has,  neither  in  doctrine 
nor  in  practical  activities,  fully  recognized  the  end 
for  which  it  is  constituted  as  a  church  by  the  act  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Churches  must  be  made  of  disciples : 
churches  cannot,  therefore,  be  made  unless  disciples  are 
1  See  Contributions  to  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Conn.,  pp.  56,  £f. 


364  PRrNCIPLES   OF  CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  xr. 

made.  The  primal  word  of  command  which  constitutes 
the  churches  is  the  order,  Go  and  disciple  all  the  nations. 
It  is  by  making  disciples  that  we  are  able  to  make 
churches.  The  doctrine  of  the  church  must,  then, 
include  the  final  cause  of  the  church  in  its  element  of 
evangelism  :  this  doctrine  must  penetrate  and  energize 
the  entire  life  of  the  church.  The  doctrine  of  the  self- 
propagation  of  the  gospel  is  an  integral  part  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  gospel :  the  spirit  of  propagandism  is  an 
inseparable  and  vital  element  in  the  life  of  the  gospel. 

We  need  not,  therefore,  be  surprised  to  find  that  the 
rise  and  fall  of  religious  life  in  the  particular  churches 
gives  conditions  to  the  increase  or  diminution  of  their 
interest  in  missions.  The  early  life  of  the  New-England 
churches  was  vigorous  and  aggressive  :  their  interest  in 
the  propagation  of  the  gospel  among  the  surrounding 
Indians  was  correspondingly  large.  The  tone  of  this 
life  was  afterwards  weakened  and  lowered.  The  mis- 
sions among  the  Indians  ceased.  Common  causes 
tended,  indeed,  to  depress  both  the  churches  and  the 
missions ;  but  the  reverse  is  true,  that  the  churches  and 
the  missions  were  depressed  as  parts  of  a  common 
cause.  The  revival  of  religious  life  in  New  England, 
which  marked  the  years  about  1740,  produced  a  new 
interest  in  the  missions  among  the  Indians :  this  new 
interest  showed  itself  in  the  self-denying  toils  of  Brai- 
nerd. 

We  note,  also,  that  the  genuine  missionary  spirit  exhib- 
its the  characteristic  desire  to  bring  the  gospel  to  the  most 
destitute  and  neglected.  It  is  this  spirit  which  mingles 
in  inextricable  but  blessed  confusion  the  history  of  our 
home  and  foreign  missions.  When  John  Eliot  of  Rox- 
bury  preached  to  the  Indians  on  Nonautum  Hill  in 
Newton,  or  at  the  Neponset  River  in  Dorchester,  was 


LECT.  XI.]    ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WOEK  OF  MISSIONS.     365 

lie  a  home,  or  a  foreign  missionary  ?  He  was  not  far 
from'  home  in  his  native  land ;  but  he  brought  the  news 
of  salvation  to  the  neglected  and  the  destitute.  He 
was  a  missionary :  the  further  distinction  is  not  essen- 
tial to  our  cause.  It  is  this  lack  of  appreciation  for 
the  superior  privilege  which  they  have  who  carry  the 
gospel  to  the  destitute,  whether  in  the  New-England 
village,  or  on  the  frontier,  or  in  Central  Africa,  which 
has  hitherto  cramped  and  weakened  both  our  home 
and  foreign  enterprises.  In  the  gospel  order,  both  the 
chronological  and  the  logical,  the  missionary  has  a  cer- 
tain marked  superiority  to  the  pastor.  No  minister 
can  aspire  to  the  highest  places  in  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ  who  does  not  become  a  missionary,  who  does  not 
do,  that  is  to  say,  the  work  of  the  apostle  and  the  evan- 
gelist in  going  forth  with  the  message  of  salvation  to 
the  destitute.  The  essential  thing  is  not  in  the  dis- 
tance to  which  he  goes.  He  may  cross  the  river  which 
runs  through  his  town,  or  cross  two  oceans,  to  reach 
those  destitute.  Every  pastor  should  be  also  a  mission- 
ary ;  every  layman  as  well. 

We  observe  with  regret,  moreover,  that  the  true 
estimate  of  the  relations  which  exist  between  our  Con- 
gregational princii^les  and  the  work  of  missions,  as  well 
as  the  final  and  satisfactory  adjustment  of  those  princi- 
ples to  that  work,  have  as  yet  never  been  made.  We 
have  enjoyed,  as  Congregational  churches,  for  more 
than  a  half-centur}^,  a  marked  revival  of  our  interest  in 
foreign  missions:  we  have  in  the  mean  time  rejoiced 
over  notable  successes  in  this  missionary  work.  And 
yet  this  length  of  time,  with  its  experience  of  successes, 
has  only  answered,  in  a  very  fragmentary  and  partial 
way,  some  of  the  most  important  and  pressing  ques- 
tions.    Among  such  we  may  enumerate  the  following : 


366  PRINCIPLES   OP   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  xi. 

How  far  do  we  act  distinctively  as  Congregationalists 
in  our  foreign  missionary  work?  How  far  are  we  to 
undertake  this  work  as  a  matter  of  self-propagation,  as 
a  work,  that  is,  of  multiplying  in  the  world  the  number 
of  Congregational  churches?  How  far  are  Congrega- 
tional missionaries  to  teach,  and  to  have  embodied  in 
the  churches  of  their  converts,  a  true  doctrine  of  the 
church,  as  well  as  other  true  doctrines  ?  How  far  may 
we  energize  and  utilize  our  peculiar  church  order  for  a 
peculiarly  successful  work  of  foreign  missions?  Is 
there,  indeed,  any  thing  in  our  church  order  wliich  may 
insure  for  us  such  peculiar  success?  How  shall  these 
principles  of  the  true  church  polity  better  operate,  and 
how  far  be  relied  upon,  to  excite  enthusiasm  for  this 
work  in  the  particular  churches  of  our  own  land? 
How  shall  these  particular  churches  be  efficiently  united 
in  this  work?  I  stop  in  my  questioning  at  this  point, 
not  because  there  are  no  more  interesting  questions 
which  I  could  raise,  but  because  I  have  already  raised 
so  many  more  than  I  can  answer.  Indeed,  I  must  dis- 
claim at  once  any  seeming  assumption  of  ability  to 
answer  a  single  one  of  the  questions  raised  above. 
The  purpose  of  this  Lecture  will  be  accomplished,  if 
only  it  serve  to  place  them  before  your  minds,  and 
if  it  somewhat  stimulate  some  minds  to  attempt  their 
better  answer. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  theoretical  questions 
which  a  Congregationalist  can  ask  himself  is  this  one, 
What  are  the  relations  of  the  principles  of  a  true  church 
polity  to  the  missionary  work  of  the  churches  ?  More 
interesting  and  important,  for  instance,  than  any  new 
theory  of  councils,  or  associations,  or  consociations,  as 
means  of  giving  a  formal  expression  to  the  communion 
of  churches,  is  tliis  question,  How  shall  the  commun- 


LECT.  XI.]    ADJUSTMENT  TO  THE  WORK  OF  MISSIONS.      367 

ion  of  churches  be  made  availing  in  the  spread  of  the 
gospel  among  the  destitute  ?  This  general  question 
concerning  the  relations  of  our  church  order  to  the 
missionary  work  of  the  churches  we  shall  now  briefly 
consider  under  three  heads.  These  heads  are,  (1)  The 
relation  of  the  individual  member  of  a  Congregational 
church  to  the  work  of  missions,  (2)  The  relation  of  the 
particular  visible  church  to  this  work,  and  (3)  The 
relation  of  the  communion  of  sister  Congregational 
churches  to  the  same  work.  The  view  which  the  Con- 
gregational polity  must  take  of  each  one  of  these  three 
topics  is  dej)endent  upon  the  two  fundamental  princi- 
ples of  that  polity.  The  formal  principle  requires  that 
we  should  look  to  the  missionary  work  of  the  apostles 
and  the  New-Testament  churches  as  containing  the 
ideas,  and  embodying  the  principles,  which  must  control 
our  missionary  work.  It  requires  us  to  study  the  New 
Testament  "  in  order  that,"  as  Dr.  J.  P.  Thompson  has 
said,'  "with  the  elements  and  causes  of  the  early  tri- 
umphs of  Christianity  distinctly  in  view,  we  may  apply 
to  the  present  whatever  in  those  early  methods  was  of 
the  nature  of  a  permanent  principle."  To  this  conclu- 
sion, necessary  on  theoretical  grounds.  Dr.  Anderson 
declares  ^  that  experience  also  leads.  But  the  material 
principle  of  Congregationalism  requires  that  every  indi- 
vidual believer  and  every  local  congregation  of  believers 
shall  be  a  hearth  of  heat  and  a  source  of  light,  without 
assignable  limits  and  without  conventional  restraints. 

The  principles  of  Congregationalism  lay  an  immense 
emphasis  upon  the  duty  and  power  of  the  individual 
believer  in  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  among  the 
destitute.  Under  the  purest  and  most  strenuous  work- 
ing of  these  principles,  every  converted  soul  is  to  be 

1  Article  in  New-Englander,  1860,  p.  946.        2  Foreign  Missions,  p.  29,  f. 


368  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHTJECH  POLITY.         [lect.  xi. 

regarded  as  a  self-appointed  and  self-controlled  mis- 
sionary or  propagator  of  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ; 
because  every  such  soul  is  by  his  conversion  made  the 
bondman  for  such  service  of  his  Lord.  To  him  as  one 
who  has  subjected  himself  totally  to  the  will  of  a  divine 
Master,^  and  who  is,  therefore,  in  respect  to  this  obedi- 
ence, independent  of  the  will,  concurrent  or  adverse,  of 
any  individual  in  the  whole  universe  of  created  souls, 
the  command  of  this  Master  is  made  known.  The 
terms  of  his  allegiance  allow  of  no  hesitation :  they  do 
not  permit  that  he  shall  take  counsel  of  others  to  dis- 
cover whether  they  purpose  to  unite  with  him  in  obedi- 
ence to  this  command.  Each  disciple  of  the  Lord, 
were  he  the  only  disciple,  would  be  as  much  bound  to 
the  effort  to  bring  this  message  to  the  destitute,  as  he 
can  now  possibly  be  ;  and  no  means  of  co-operation  can 
release  any  disciple  from  tliis  perpetual  and  perpetually 
obligatory  bond. 

It  is  the  missionary  spirit  which  itself  organizes  all 
means  of  missionary  work.  This  spirit  belongs  to  the 
believer  as  such ;  and  New-Testament  history  shows  us, 
in  veritable  and  efficient  exercise,  the  power  and  duty 
of  the  individual  believer  in  propagating  the  gospel  of 
Christ.  The  converted  soul  is  the  first  missionary  so- 
ciety. There  is,  indeed,  a  society,  if  there  be  only  one 
such  soul ;  for  there  is  a  holy  communion  of  spirit  and 
unity  of  endeavor  between  that  one  soul  and  its  risen 
Lord.  The  missionary  work  of  the  early  Christians  be- 
gan before  any  formal  union  of  churches  occurred,  and 
even  before  the  formation  of  more  than  a  single  church. 
This  work  brought  into  being  the  material  out  of  which 
the  subsequent  churches  were  formed.  The  self-propa- 
gation of  Christianity  was  by  the  preaching  of  those  who 

1  See  the  word  SoCXos  in  Grimm's  Lexicon  of  the  New  Testament. 


LECT.  XI.]    APOSTOLIC  MISSIONAEY  ENTERPEISES.  369 

had  become  Christians,  irrespective  of  their  rank,  or  con- 
dition of  society,  and  without  tarrying  for  any  consecra- 
tion of  an  ordaining  prayer,  or  laying-on  of  hands.     The 
apostles  themselves  were  primarily  simple  preachers  of 
the  gospel  to  the  destitute ;  and  all  the  other  activities, 
offices,  and  products  of  the  apostolate,  are  secondary  to 
this.     As  founders  and  guides  of  churches,  as  writers  of 
Sacred  Scrip)ture,  and  authoritative  teachers  of  perma- 
nent  Christian    doctrine,  they  act  out  of  the  further 
requirements  which  the  Spirit  of  Christ  made  in  order 
chiefly  to  render  effective  their  obedience  to  the  com- 
mand of  Jesus,  Go  and  disciple  all   the  nations.     To 
consider  them  as  carrying  alone  the  burden  of  this  com- 
mand, or  as  having  the  monopoly  of  this  work,  or  as 
doing  the  work  belonging  to  them  in  a  merely  official 
and  perfunctory  way,  is  totally  and  fatally  to  misappre- 
hend the  planting  of  Christianity  in  the  history  of  the 
race.     Individual  Christians,  scattered  by  the  wind  of 
persecution,  were  the  seed-bearers  of  the  divine  Word. 
They  went  not  simj)ly  as  fugitives,  but  also  as  witnesses. 
In  not  a  few  places  they  doubtless  preceded  the  apostles 
themselves. 

The  records  of  the  first  centuries  of  the  Christian 
Church  show  us  the  wonderful  triumph  of  Christianity 
through  the  spontaneous  work  of  individual  believers. 
Tertullian  could  boast,  with  a  large  measure  of  truthful- 
ness, although  with  whatever  excusable  exaggeration, 
"  We  are  a  people  of  yesterday,  and  yet  we  have  filled 
every  place  belonging  to  you,  —  cities,  islands,  castles, 
towns,  assemblies,  your  very  camp,  your  tribes,  compa- 
nies, palace,  senate,  forum."  But  the  possibility  of  the 
boast  was  largely  due  to  the  fact,  that,  as  Celsus  jeer- 
ingly  states,  "wool-workers,  cobblers,  leather-dressers, 
the  most  illiterate  and  vulgar  of  mankind,  were  zealous 


370  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.        [lect.  xi. 

preachers  of  the  gospel,  and  addressed  themselves,  par- 
ticularly in  the  outset,  to  women  and  children."  In- 
deed, when  we  reckon  as  coming  in  part  under  this 
head,  the  work  of  the  Apostle  Paul  (and  under  this 
head  that  work  certainly  in  part  belongs),  we  must 
consider  the  spontaneous  and  self-controlled  proclama- 
tion of  the  gospel  by  the  individual  believer  as  the 
chief  means  for  the  spread  of  Christianity  in  the  early 
days  of  the  church.  Not  to  the  church,  not  to  the 
clergy,  but  to  the  individual  believer,  was  committed 
the  stress  of  the  first  missionary  work. 

Certain  institutions  divinely  prepared,  and  certain 
universally  prevalent  customs  divinely  used,  gave,  hew- 
ever,  to  this  spontaneous  and  unorganized  method  of 
propagating  the  gospel,  an  efQciency  which  it  is  now 
apparently  impossible  to  secure.^  The  Roman  Em^iire, 
the  Greek  language,  and  the  Jewish  synagogue  are  the . 
institutions  to  which  I  refer.  These  institutions  them- 
selves guaranteed  a  certain  security,  ease,  efficiency, 
and  unity  to  this  unorganized  work  of  evangelizing 
the  world.  The  customs  of  commercial  and  social  life 
made  the  Christian  merchant  a  missionary  from  place 
to  place,  and  facilitated,  by  the  usages  of  hospitable 
and  leisurely  living,  the  verbal  communication  of  the 
message  from  home  to  home,  and  from  mouth  to  mouth. 
It  appears,  that  although  we  have,  in  some  respects, 
gained  facilities  for  propagating  the  gospel  by  the 
spontaneous  and  unorganized  activity  of  individual  be- 
lievers who  send  the  message  from  land  to  land,  and 
from  centre  to  circumference  about  the  whole  earth,  in 
other  important  resj)ects  we  have  decidedly  lost.  Siiall 
we,  then,  abandon  the  doctrine  that  the  propagation  of 

1  See,  regarding  these  truths,  the  article  of  Dr.  Thompson,   New- 
Englander,  November,  1860. 


LECT.  XI.]      MISSIONARY  WORK   OF   INDIVIDUALS.  371 

the  gospel,  abroad  as  well  as  at  home,  is  not  a  matter 
of  clerical  function,  but  of  individual  Christian  duty  and 
power  ?  This  doctrine  we  cannot  abandon,  for  it  is  in- 
herent both  in  the  history  of  the  New  Testament  and 
in  the  principles  of  our  church  order.  Our  modern 
missions,  as  well  as  the  earlier  missions,  must  recognize 
a  "  sanctified  individualism :  "  the}^  must  enforce  the 
duty  of  every  individual  Christian  to  take  part  in  evan- 
gelizing the  world.  Nor  are  we  without  hope,  that  in 
accordance  with  this  principle,  while  our  organizations 
for  missionary  enterprise  grow  more  numerous  and  mas- 
sive and  effective,  the  work  distinctive  of  individual 
spontaneity  and  individual  peculiarities  will  grow  more 
pervasive,  alert,  and  also  effective.  The  Church  will 
need  all  arms  of  her  service,  if  she  is  to  win  the  field. 

It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that  the  religion  into  conflict 
with  which,  upon  Oriental  grounds,  our  Christianity  is 
coming  more  and  more,  wins  its  greatest  successes  by 
acknowledgment  and  use  of  this  same  principle.  The 
accounts  concerning  the  growth  and  prospects  of  Mo- 
hammedanism are  indeed  conflicting.  Probably  the 
truth  is,  that  this  religion  is  in  one  place  waning  when 
in  another  it  may  be  rapidly  acquiring  numbers  and 
power.  Dr.  J.  von  DoUinger  declares  on  the  authority 
of  Garcin  de  Tassy,  than  whom  it  would  be  difficult  to 
find  one  more  trustworthy,  that  the  Arabian  religion  is 
to-day  showing  "strong  expansive  force,"  and  "is  ex- 
tending itself  now  almost  as  rapidly  and  as  vigorously 
by  the  peaceful  methods  of  persuasion  as  formerly  by 
the  sword."  "In  Africa  it  advances  like  a  torrent: 
whole  tribes  in  the  interior,  who  yesterday  were  idola- 
ters or  fetich-worshippers,  are  to-day  believers  in  the 
Koran."    The  Queen  of  England  is  to-day  the  "greatest 

1  Article  in  the  Contemporary  Review,  June,  1879. 


872  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH   POLITY.         [lect.  xi. 

sovereign  of  Mahometan  peoples  in  the  world : "  she 
reigns  over  fifty  million,  while  only  twenty-one  million 
are  under  the  Turkish  Sultan.  In  Tonkin  there  are  fifty 
thousand  of  them.  The  whole  population  of  Java,  with 
its  nearly  eight  million,  "  have  now  for  the  first  time, 
under  the  Dutch  Government,  become  Mahometan." 
If,  then,  we  have  been  wont  to  account  for  the  spread 
of  Mohammedanism  by  its  use  of  the  sword,  —  disre- 
garding the  pertinent  question  of  Carlyle,  What  gave 
Mohammedanism  its  sword  ?  —  we  can  be  satisfied  with 
the  shallow  reason  no  longer.  One  important  reason  for 
these  rapid  conquests,  as  this  reason  is  given  by  the' 
writer  just  quoted,  should  press  a  pungent  inquiry  to 
the  heart  of  the  Christian  world.  Islam  has  a  great 
advantage  over  the  Christian  churches,  declares  Dr. 
Dollinger,  "  from  its  knowing  nothing  of  the  sharp  dis- 
tinction between  clergy  and  laity  which  is  so  especially 
marked  in  the  Roman-Catholic  Church ;  so  that  every 
Moslem  feels  bound  to  take  part  in  the  conversion  of 
unbelievers,  while  Christians  are  accustomed  to  treat 
mission-work  as  a  specialty  of  the  clergy."  We  need, 
in  view  of  such  a  statement  frorii  so  high  an  authority, 
to  emphasize  anew  the  truth  that  it  is  contrary  to  the 
princi]3les  of  our  church  order  "to  treat  mission-work 
as  a  specialty  of  the  clergy."  As  denying  the  class  func- 
tions and  obligations  of  the  clergy,  our  church  order 
has  a  special  aptitude  for  evangelizing  the  world. 

Notable  results  have  been  reached  in  the  modern 
mission-work  of  Congregationalism  by  emphasizing  the 
principle  of  a  "  sanctified  individualism."  It  should 
never  be  tolerated  in  thought  that  reliance  can  be  placed 
primarily  upon  keeping  certain  machinery  in  fair  run- 
ning order  as  equivalent  to  evangelizing  the  world.  It 
was  the  movement  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  a  missionary 


LECT.  XI.]      MISSIONARY   WORK   OF   INDIVIDUALS.  373 

spirit  in  individual  souls  which  preceded  and  led  to  the 
instituting  of  our  principal  means  for  foreign  mission- 
ary work.  In  1810  four  young  laymen,  members  of 
And  over  Theological  Seminar}^  devoted  themselves  to 
carrying  the  message  of  salvation  to  the  destitute  in 
foreign  lands.  These  souls  gave  themselves.  The  in- 
stitution of  the  American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
resulted  from  the  devout  intent  to  sustain  these  souls 
in  the  execution  of  their  inspired  purpose.  The  spirit 
of  self-devotion  in  these  individual  souls  organized  that 
formal  call  .of  this  board  for  workmen,  which  annually 
comes  to  the  students  of  this  seminary,  and  which  urges 
the  same  self-devotement.  The  successes  of  the  Ameri- 
can Board  have  constantly  emphasized  this  principle : 
these  successes  have  been  gained  through  the  work  of 
men  who  did  no  merely  perfunctory  work.  The  mis- 
sionaries have  gone,  not  as  officers  of  the  churchy  but  as 
witnesses  sent  by  the  churches  for  preaching  Christ  to 
the  destitute.  That  view  of  church  polity  which  finds 
no  place  for  the  evangelist  as  the  commissioner  of  Jesus, 
despatched  by  his  brethren,  and  blessed  as  he  is  sent 
forth  to  preach  the  gospel  wherever  hearers  can  be 
found,  is  opposed  to  the  genius  of  our  church  order.i 
Every  missionary  goes  forth  as  an  individual  soul 
responding  in  this  form  of  response  to  the  universal 
divine  command.  Missionaries  go  not  as  officers  of  the 
church,  but  to  make  churches,  and  to  see  that  officers 
are  set  over  them.  The  converts  made  are  at  once 
themselves  to  be  made  evangelists  according  to  the  same 
divine  command.  Native  ministers,  like  the  Karen 
Quala,  who,  in  less  than  three  years,  gathered  thirty 
churches,  with  twenty-one  hundred  and  twenty-seven 

1  See,  however,  the  work  of  Owen,  entitled  On  the  Spirit,  vol.  iv. 
p.  446,  f. 


374  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lbct.  xi. 

members  —  young  gentlemen,  how  far  back  must  you 
and  I  not  stand  when  that  poor  Karen  is  told  "  Wel- 
come "  and  "Well  done  "  by  his  Lord? — like  the  Shanar 
of  whom  Rev.  John  Thomas  speaks,  like  Bartimeus  the 
blind  preacher  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  —  native  minis- 
ters like  these  illustrate  the  honor  which  the  Spirit  puts 
upon  a  "  sanctified  individualism."  ^  It  was  as  lone 
souls,  evangelists,  missionaries,  apostles  taken  from  the 
lowest  grades  of  heathen  life,  and  not  as  officers  of  the 
church,  that  these  men  accomplished  their  great  work. 

That  the  duty  and  power  of  the  individual  believer 
may  be  made  of  vastly  more  avail  in  the  propagating  of 
the  gospel  there  is  no  room  for  reasonable  doubt.  The 
time  is  promised,  when,  in  the  going  of  many  to  and  fro, 
they  that  move  shall  carry  the  light  and  love  of  Christ 
with  them  wherever  they  go.  We  indicate  with  some 
confidence,  and  yet  with  becoming  diffidence,  several  of 
those  special  applications  of  this  principle  to  our  mis- 
sionary work  which  may  perhaps  earliest  be  secured. 

We  must  emphasize  anew  the  dignity  and  importance 
of  the  evangelist,  —  the  truest  successor  of  the  apostles 
known  to  our  modern  methods  of  doing  Christian  work. 
We  have  exalted  our  doctrine  of  the  officer  of  the  local 
church  at  the  expense  of  our  doctrine  concerning  the 
messenger  sent  by  the  churches,  or  self-commissioned,  to 
carry  the  gospel  to  the  destitute.  There  has  been  no 
little  wrangling  as  to  the  amount  of  dignity  and  author- 
ity which  belong  to  the  pastors  of  churches,  to  the 
clersrv,  as  a  class  and  bv  virtue  of  their  office.  We  need 
relatively  to  exalt  the  dignity  and  authority  of  the  man, 
who,  with  election  to  no  other  office  than  that  of  serv- 
ing needy  souls  by  the  proclamation  of  the  gospel,  goes 
to  the  remoter  and  darker  regions  of  the  earth.     We 

1  See  Dr.  Anderson's  Foreign  Missions,  pp.  131,  ff. 


I.ECT.  XI.]  DIGNITY   OF   THE   IVHSSIOKARY.  375 

have  been  careful  to  guard  with  rules  the  ordination  of 
evangelists.  We  have  made  it  very  difficult  at  times  to 
tell  just  what  forms  of  ceremony  must  be  gone  through 
in  order  to  secure  for  the  missionary  the  blessing  of 
clerical  hands  upon  his  missionary  work.  We  may  v/ell 
consider  whether  the  time  is  not  coming  when  the  pas- 
tor of  the  local  church  will  think  he  needs  a  blessing 
from  the  hands  of  some  modern  apostle.  The  ajoosto- 
late  is  perpetuated  in  the  evangelistic  and  missionary 
service  of  the  church  more  nearly  than  in  any  other 
form.  Missionaries  and  evangelists  are  the  only  ser- 
vants of  Christ  who  are  to  be  placed  next  apostles. 
Worthy  John  Owen  contends  that  the  office  of  evangel- 
ist was  extraordinary,  and  has  ceased  to  be  needed  by 
the  church ;  this,  although  he  defines  the  work  of  the 
evangelist  in  the  first  and  third  of  its  three  heads  as 
being,  "  to  preach  the  gospel  in  all  places  and  unto  all 
persons  as  they  had  occasion,"  and  "  the  settling  and 
completing  of  those  churches  whose  foundations  were 
laid  by  the  apostles."  If  this  office  has  indeed  ceased, 
it  is  because  the  Church  of  Christ  has  ceased  to  be  a 
truly  Christian  Church.  Let  those  who  hear  my  voice 
remember  this  truth,  that  when  the  providence  of  God, 
who  by  his  Spirit  distributes  the  positions  and  works  of 
his  kingdom,  or  the  secret  choice  of  the  soul  which  is 
recognized  in  conscience  as  approved  or  condemned  by 
that  Spirit,  divides  you  into  pastors  and  missionaries, 
the  former  are  assigned  to  the  inferior,  the  latter  to  the 
superior,  dignities  and  opportunities  in  the  Church  of 
Christ.  Wherefore  covet  earnestly  the  best  gifts,  but 
in  any  event  forget  not  the  eminently  excellent  way. 

It  follows,  from  what  has  already  been  said,  that  the 
foreign  missionary  has,  in  certain  important  respects,  an 
essentially  apostolic  authority  and  position  toward  the 


376  PEINCIPLES    OF   CHTJKCH  POLITY.         [lect.  xi. 

converts  made,  and  the  churches  founded,  on  foreign 
missionary  ground.  He  is  not  to  become  the  chosen 
officer  of  any  of  those  particular  visible  churches :  he  is 
not  the  acknowledged  lord-bishop  of  any  of  those  souls. 
But,  having  begotten  them  in  the  gospel,  shall  he  cease 
to  have  the  interest  and  care  of  a  father  over  them? 
The  theory  of  our  church  order  insists,  indeed,  upon 
the  autonomy  of  the  local  church  and  upon  the  self- 
control  of  the  individual;  this  autonomy  and  self-con- 
trol being  under  the  exclusive  rulership  of  Jesus  Christ, 
who  reveals  his  will  in  the  Scriptures,  and  by  his  Spirit 
in  the  hearts  of  his  followers.  According  to  this  theory, 
the  only  personal  authority  known  to  the  churches  is 
the  delegated  authority  belonging  to  the  chosen  officers 
of  the  particular  church.  Does  this  theory  admit  of 
any  modification,  so  as  to  make  a  distinction  between 
churches  differently  circumstanced,  and  amongst  differ- 
ent individual  souls  ?  May  exceptional  relations  give 
an  exceptional  though  still  informal  authority  to  others 
than  their  chosen  officers?  Experience  has  made  it 
quite  clear,  at  any  rate,  that  our  foreign  missionary 
work  must  be,  in  its  control  over  the  churches,  in  some 
resjDects  different  from  the  work  of  keeping  alive  the 
local  churches  in  New  England,  or  even  of  propagating 
autonomous  churches  in  our  own  West;  We  believe 
that  the  New-Testament  principles  provide  for  this 
modification  without  nullifying  the  recognized  forms  of 
official  relations  belonging  to  our  church  order.  This 
provision  is  made  in  the  fact  that  he  who  has  spoken 
the  first  message  with  divine  authority  has  the  same 
authority  to  secure  the  fruits  of  his  message.  The 
modern  missionary,  acting  alone,  if  it  must  be,  or  in 
consultation  with  his  brethren  on  the  same  fi'^ld,  if  it 
can   be,  has   essentially  the  same  authority  over  the 


LECT.  XI.]        AUTHOEITY  OF  THE   MISSIONARY.  377 

churches  he  has  planted,  that  belonged  to  the  Apostle 
Paul.  If  these  churches  go  astray  with  their  pastors, 
he  is  bound  to  rebuke  both  churches  and  pastors :  he 
has  authority,  by  all  means  which  an  apostle  would  use, 
to  bring  them  back  again  to  the  right  path.  To  act 
gingerly  in  these  matters  would  show  a  foolish  regard 
for  formalism :  not  to  be  meek,  patient,  and  loving,  as 
well  as  brave  and  zealous,  Avould  be  unapostolic.  The 
truth  that  the  missionary  and  evangelist  bring  the  gos- 
pel to  the  destitute,  then  organize  churches  out  of  their 
converts,  and  then  guard  the  purity  in  doctrine  and 
life  of  those  churches,  with  all  the  authority  of  the  apos- 
tles, so  far  as  essential  characteristics  and  extent  of 
application  suited  to  the  case  are  concerned,  is  a  truth 
to  be  recognized  in  our  foreign  missionary  enterprise. 
The  New  Testament  ascribes  a  certain  formal  and  offi- 
cial, but  delegated,  authority,  to  the  elders  or  bishops  of 
the  local  churches.  It  also  ascribes  a  certain  informal 
and  undelegated,  but  well  recognized,  authority,  to  the 
founders  of  those  churches.  This  latter  kind  of  au- 
thority did  not  belong  to  the  apostles  on  the  ground 
of  their  differences  from  other  founders  of  new  churches, 
but  rather  on  the  ground  of  their  likeness  with  them. 
The  recognition  of  this  authority  is  one  form  of  putting 
honor  upon  the  principle  of  sanctified  individualism. 

Nor  need  we  despair  of  seeing  again  the  time  when 
the  unorganized  efforts  of  individual  spontaneity  will 
bring  forth  astonishing  results.  Who  can  measure  the 
influence  which  would  be  exerted  to  evangelize  heathen- 
ism, if  the  officers  and  common  sailors  upon  the  ships 
of  Christendom  were  doing  the  work  done  by  these 
classes  in  New-Testament  times?  Rum,  opium,  slaves, 
foul  disease,  and  habits  of  violence  and  lust,  have  been 
propagated  by  the  commerce  of  modern  Christendom. 


378  PErNCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.         [lect.  xi. 

What  if  the  gospel  were  with  like  diligence  propagated 
by  those  who  go  upon  the  seas  under  Christian  flags  ? 
The  spirit  of  God,  reviving  in  the  church  of  this  day 
the  movements  of  a  spontaneous  and  individual  kind  for 
the  self-propagation  of  the  gospel,  would  quickly  out- 
do all  the  work  of  organizations.  The  wealth  of  the 
wealthy,  the  learning  of  the  educated,  the  travel  of 
explorers,  the  trade  of  merchants,  must  all  be  more 
and  more  appropriated  and  used  to  send  through  all 
the  channels  of  most  familiar  and  informal  intercourse 
the  influences  of  the  religion  of  Christ.  Self-sent,  and 
at  their  own  charges,  will  still  greater  numbers  carry 
the  gospel  throughout  the  entire  world. 

And  further :  in  making  use  of  this  principle  of  sanc- 
tified individualism,  every  convert  upon  heathen  ground 
must  be  so  converted  and  trained  as  to  be  himself  a 
self-supporting  centre  of  evangelism.  Men  will  more 
and  more  frequently  arise  from  the  lowest  and  most 
central  points  of  heathenism,  who,  like  Quala  and  Barti- 
meus,  will,  in  their  influence  over  their  own  nations  and 
tribes,  far  surpass  any  men  of  foreign  birth.  Concerning 
all  these  the  remark  of  Dr.  Auderson  will  hold  true :  ^ 
"It  is  a  fundamental  principle  that  the  missionary  goes 
on  his  mission  in  the  discharge  of  his  own  personal  duty, 
not  as  a  servant  of  the  "churches,  and  not  as  a  servant 
of  the  missionary  society."  He  goes,  that  is,  as  a  con- 
verted soul,  and  in  response  to  the  command  of  Christ. 
I  will  only  add  he  goes  as  went  the  apostles,  —  with 
apostolic  dignity  in  the  estimate  of  all  believers,  and 
with  apostolic  authority  toward  the  converts  and 
churches  given  him  by  Christ.  This  is  the  truest  form 
of  perpetuating  the  apostolate ;  and  in  this  form  of  its 
perpetuation  every  individual  believer  is  invited  to 
1  Foreign  Missions,  p.  145. 


LECT.  XI.]    IVUSSIONS   AND   THE  LOCAL   CHURCH.  379 

consider  whether  he  shall  not  become  a  successor  of  the 
apostles. 

We  now  consider,  in  the  second  place,  the  relations  of 
the  particular  visible  church  to  the  work  of  foreign 
missions.  We  must  admit  that  a  certain  relative  weak- 
ness and  unsatisfactoriness  attach  themselves  to  all 
merely  individual  enterprises  in  the  Church  of  Christ. 
Indeed,  strictly  speaking,  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as 
a  merely  individual  missionary  enterprise.  If  we  sup- 
pose the  only  believer  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  to  set 
out  upon  a  missionary  journey  in  obedience  to  the  com- 
mand of  Christ,  his  very  first  success  in  making  a  con- 
vert would  destroy  the  isolation  of  his  individuality. 
The  new  convert  and  the  missionary  would  both  be 
evangelists ;  .  and  soon  there  would  be  joy  in  heaven 
over  the  founding  of  a  Christian  church.  The  church 
is  a  divine  institution,  and  believers  are  obligated  to 
associate  themselves  in  a  church-way.  Having  done 
this,  they  are  still  bound  to  attempt  the  evangelizing  of 
the  world.  But  being  united  as  a  church,  and  being 
bound  by  the  command  of  Christ  to  disciple  others, 
they  must  as  a  church  act  together  for  the  evangelizing 
of  the  world.  Every  particular  church  becomes,  there- 
fore, itself  a  centre  for  the  self-propagation  of  the 
gospel,  a  means  also  for  the  multiplication  of  other 
churches.  Such  a  centre  and  means  were  the  particu- 
lar visible  churches  of  the  New  Testament.  They 
could  not  otherwise  be  addressed  as  golden  candlesticks, 
in  the  midst  of  which  the  Son  of  man  was  to  be  seeii 
walking.  Paul  writes  to  the  Thessalonians :  "  From 
you  sounded  out  the  word  of  the  Lord  not  only  in 
Macedonia  and  Achaia,  but  also  in  every  place  your 
faith  toward  God  is  spread  abroad." 

The  spread  of  the  gospel  is  necessarily,  in  a  large 


380  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  xi. 

degree,  a  matter  of  multiplying  churches ;  and  this  fact 
serves  both  to  render  important,  and  to  define,  the  rela- 
tions which  exist  between  the  particular  churches  and 
the  foreign  missionary  work.  These  relations  them 
selves,  moreover,  emphasize  the  distinctive  importance 
of  applying  our  own  Congregational  principles  to  our 
own  missionary  work.  It  has  already  been  said  of  our 
work  of  self-propagation,  that  the  spread  of  Congrega- 
tionalism, as  a  matter  of  principles  to  be  embodied  in 
an  ever-increasing  number  of  New-Testament  churches, 
is  the  distinctive  duty  of  Congregationalists.  But  the 
work  of  self-propagation  is  essentially  the  same  on  what- 
ever ground  undertaken.  It  is  our  duty  to  multiply 
New-Testament  churches  in  China  and  Japan  as  truly 
as  in  Utah  or  Dakota.  The  personal  word  of  Christ 
is  indeed.  Go  and  disciple  all  the  nations.  We  have 
no  explicit  word  from  him  which  commands  that  we 
shall  go  and  plant  Congregational  churches.  And, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  the  primary  work  of  evangel- 
ism is  conducted  by  individuals,  and  not  by  churches, 
and  consists  in  converting  souls  rather  than  in  planting 
churches.  We  are  Christians  before  we  are  Congrega- 
tionalists. The  distinctive  doctrines  of  redemption  take 
precedence  in  thought  and  activity  of  our  distinctive 
doctrines  of  the  church.  Nevertheless,  we  are  Congre- 
gationalists from  principle,  as  well  as  Christians;  and 
the  doctrine  of  the  church  is  no  unimportant  doctrine. 
A  false  doctrine  of  the  church  and  an  abundant  corre- 
sponding false  practice  has  hitherto  been  one  of  the  chief 
obstacles  to  the  Christianizing  of  the  world.  While, 
then,  we  are,  together  with  all  believers,  tender  and 
quick  to  recognize  our  obligations  as  Christians  to 
spread  the  gospel,  we  are  as  Congregationalists  dis- 
tinctively obligated  to  multiply  Congregational  churches. 


LECT.  XI.]  CONGREGATIONAL  MISSIONS.  381 

Our  complete  missionary  loorh  should  he  to  convert  men, 
and  to  associate  and  train  the  converts  in  the  church-ivays 
of  the  New  Testament.  We  are  not  to  do  this  by  that 
slavish  custom  of  copying  the  details  of  scriptural  his- 
tory, or  adopting  its  perishing  maxims,  which  is  mere 
formalism,  by  whatever  name  called :  we  are  to  do  this, 
however,  by  embodying  principles  in  concrete  form,  by 
exemplifying  the  true  doctrine  of  the  church  in  num- 
bers of  particular  churches.  I  do  not  hesitate,  therefore, 
to  repeat  that  all  our  foreign  missionary  ivork  should  be 
directed,  first  to  converting  men  to  Christ,  and  then  to  asso- 
ciating and  nourishing  the  converted  ifi  Congregationally 
governed  churches.  We  should  understand  it  as  our 
distinctive,  —  and  if  you  insist  upon  it,  although  with 
aversion  to  the  word,  I  will  say,  —  oxxv  denominational 
missionary  work  to  multiply  upon  the  earth  New-Tes- 
tament churches. 

A  clear  conception  of  this  distinctive  work  involves 
several  particulars,  some  of  which  concern  the  so-called 
home  churches,  others,  the  churches  on  foreign  ground. 
But  first  of  all  must  our  conception  be  clear  as  to  the 
obligation  and  feasibility  of  this  work.  He  who  does 
not  believe  that  genuine  Congregational  churches  are 
fitted  for  the  needs  of  converts  from  heathenism  should 
either  revise  his  Congregationalism,  or  abjure  it.  As 
a  Christian,  he  should  not  remain  in  a  church  order 
which  is  not  fitted  to  tlie  uses  of  evangelism.  As  only 
a  quasi-Congregationalist,  he  will  do  less  harm  after 
having  joined  himself  where  he  can  be  a  devoted  ad- 
herent both  of  Christ  and  of  some  particular  order  of 
the  Church  of  Christ.  The  adaptability  of  autonomous 
and  self-governed  churches  to  cosmopolitan  uses  was 
quite  thoroughly  tested,  we  should  suppose,  in  the 
first  century  of  our  era.     "  Barnabas,"  says  Dr.  Thomp- 


382  PEIlSrCIPLES   of   CHUECH  polity.         [lect.  XI. 

son,^  "  was  a  native  of  Cyprus,  and  a  Levite.  Simeon 
was  called  Niger,  —  which  some  '  evangelical  Christians ' 
nowadays  would  spell  with  two  g's  —  black  Simeon,  as 
Wiclif  translated  it.  Lucius  was  from  Cyrene  in  North- 
ern Africa.  Manaen  was  foster-brother  of  the  late  te- 
trarch  Herod.  Saul  was  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews. 
Such  was  the  missionary  committee  of  the  church  at 
Antioch." 

Not  only  can  Congregational  churches  be  organized 
in  all  places  where  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  makes 
converts,  but  they  can  also  everywhere  be  speedily 
trained  to  self-government  as  churches.  Between  their 
first  organizing  and  their  safe  commitment  to  complete 
self-government,  the  quasi-apostolic  authority  of  the 
missionary  evangelist  helps  the  transition.  Under  the 
true  church  polity  the  missionary  must  not  withhold 
his  hand  when  he  has  made  the  converts,  and  organ- 
ized them  into  a  particular  visible  church ;  he  must 
also,  as  a  foster-parent,  train  them  to  act  freely  and 
safely  in  this  church  order.  He  is  to  superintend  their 
choice  and  ordination  of  native  pastors.  He  is  to  in- 
struct them  in  appropriate  conduct  under  their  pastors. 
He  is  to  rebuke,  admonish,  warn,  and  threaten  them,  as 
occasion  demands,  in  order  that  they  may  come  to  a 
speedier  maturity  in  the  attempt  at  self-government. 
But  especially  and  very  largely,  yet  judiciously,  is  he 
to  leave  the  churches  to  themselves  in  order  that  they 
may  have  a  real  exercise  in  the  thing  which  they  are 
trying  to  learn.  They  must  be  left,  in  good  measure, 
to  feel  the  penalties  of  faults  and  the  joys  of  successes 
in  self-control.  They  will  never  learn  self-government 
in  a  church-way  otherwise  than  by  the  practice  of  gov- 
erning themselves. 

1  New-Englander,  November,  1860,  p.  953,  f. 


r,ECT.  XI.]  CONGREGATIONAL   ]\nSSIONS.  383 

Those  theories  of  church  government  which  place  the 
sources  of  control  iu  the  clergy  all  very  naturally  dis- 
trust the  power  of  new  converts  from  heathenism  to 
control  themselves  in  the  church-state.  Our  theory 
generously  trusts  this  power;  and  experience  shows 
that  the  trust  is,  on  the  whole,  as  safe  as  it  is  generous. 
The  ease  and  speed  with  which  savage  peoples  some- 
times adopt  civil  self-government  is  a  surprise  to  civili- 
zation. But  church  self-government  is  expected  only 
of  men  who  have  been  endowed  with  a  double  set  of 
ennobling  immunities.  A  greater  speed  in  attaining  its 
successes  may  then  be  expected. 

The  church  composed  of  converts  from  heathenism 
can  become  self-sustaining  and  self-propagating  as  well 
as  self-governing.  In  exhibiting  the  powers  of  self- 
support  under  persecution  and  of  self-propagation  in  the 
face  of  difficulties,  none  of  the  churches  of  early  Chris- 
tianity were  more  exemplary  than  have  been  some 
raised  in  recent  times  from  the  deepest  degradation 
of  heathenism.  Some  sixty  years  since,  the  people  of 
Sierra  Leone  numbered  about  a  thousand.  They  had 
been  taken  from  the  holds  of  captured  slave-ships :  they 
were  naked,  wild,  lazy,  thieving,  and  brutal  savages. 
They  were  devil-worshippers,  holding  midnight  orgies 
of  desperate  pollution.  A  plain  German  laborer,  illus- 
trating the  force  of  a  consecrated  individualism,  in  only 
seven  years  brought  scores  of  them  to  Christ,  and 
changed  the  aspect  of  the  entire  community.  But  after 
his  death  this  people  of  Sierra  Leone  illustrated  the 
self-supporting  and  self-propagating  power  of  a  New- 
Testament  church.  From  them  the  Word  of  God  so 
sounded  abroad  in  that  whole  region,  that,  at  the  close 
of  the  first  half-century,  the  nominal  Christians  in  the 
colony  were  eight}^  thousand,  the  number  of  communi- 


384  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHTTRCH  POLITY.         [lect.  xi. 

cants  was  twenty  thousand.  No  fewer  than  six  differ- 
ent missions  had  been  established  by  them  among  the 
nnevangelized  tribes ,  beyond  the  colony.  With  other 
no  less  conspicuous  examples  of  the  power  of  the  local 
church  to  act  as  a  centre  of  light  and  heat,  and  to  keep 
its  own  hearth  warm  and  radiating  amidst  the  coldest, 
fiercest  winds  of  persecution,  —  examples  from  Mada- 
gascar, from  India,'  from  the  Sandwich  Islands  and  the 
South  Seas,  —  we  might  readily  be  made  familiar. 

We  cannot  wisely  doubt  the  capacity  of  so-called 
heathen  to  exercise  all  the  church  functions  of  self- 
government,  self-support,  and  self-propagation :  the 
rather  may  we  expect,  from  increased  confidence  in  Con- 
gregational principles  as  embodied  in  autonomous  par- 
ticular churches,  the  most  astonishing  successes  in  the 
future  of  missions.  "The  chief  work  of  evangelical 
Christendom  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  world," 
said  one  peculiarly  familiar  with  the  facts  involved,  "  is 
to  plant  churches  instinct  with  gospel  life  in  all  the 
central  and  influential  districts  of  the  nnevangelized 
land." ' 

But  if  the  principles  of  the  true  church  polity,  as 
embodied  in  self-governing,  self-supporting,  and  self- 
propagating  churches,  need  to  control  our  foreign  mis- 
sionary work  at  the  end  of  the  foreign  field,  how  much 
more  even  at  the  end  which  starts  from  the  so-called 
home  field  !  These  principles,  in  their  application,  lay 
a  responsibility  upon  every  particular  visible  church  at 
home,  with  respect  to  the  work  of  evangelism  in  foreign 
lands.  For  the  purposes  of  this  work  the  particular 
church  acts  as  an  individual,  with  an  intellect  to  en- 
lighten, a  conscience  to  satisfy,  a  character  to  win  and 
keep,  I  had  almost  said  a  soul  to  save.     Individual  mem- 

1  Dr.  Anderson,  in  Foreign  Missions,  p.  131. 


LECT.  XI.]  CONGREGATIONAL  MISSIONS.  385 

bers  of  the  kingdom  of  God  are  bound  in  an  individual 
way  by  the  command  of  Christ.  The  command  is  to 
each  lone  soul :  In  thy  loneliness  serve  thy  Master 
Christ  by  communicating  his  gospel  to  other  lone  souls. 
But  there  comes  also  to  the  local  church,  as  a  church, 
a  command  of  Christ.  This  command  is  historic,  and 
given  through  the  injunctions  of  apostles  and  the  j  ''ac- 
tice  of  faithful  Christian  congregations.  It  emphasiies 
the  final  purpose  of  the  church.  It  teaches  the  doctrine 
that  each  local  church  is  in  its  final  purpose  no  longer  a 
merely  local  affair.  Its  organism  of  officers,  lay  and  cler- 
ical, its  committees  and  boards,  are  for  an  end  which  lies 
outside  of  itself.  Self-existence,  mere  existence,  is  no 
worthy  end  for  even  the  poorest,  weakest,  and  smallest 
of  Christian  churches.  The  poorest,  weakest,  and  small- 
est church  is  to  live  and  pray  and  labor  for  the  con- 
version of  the  world.  What  right,  otherwise,  has  the 
particular  visible  church,  Congregationally  governed,  to 
make  use  of  the  universal  liturgy,  and  pray,  after  the 
words  of  Jesus  Christ,  "  Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will 
be  done  on  earth"?  It  has  already  been  said  that 
every  Congregational  church  should  contain  in  the  very 
basis  of  its  organization  some  recognition  of  its  final 
cause  as  a  church  of  Christ,  and  that  a  part  of  that 
final  cause  is  the  evangelizing  of  the  world.  I  wish 
now  to  assert  further,  that  all  the  life  of  every  church 
should  be  conducted  in  recognition  of  this  same  final 
cause.  The  prayers  of  the  local  church  should  be  for 
the  conversion  of  the  world.  The  interests  of  the  local 
church  should  be  largely  in  the  conversion  of  the  world. 
The  work  of  its  officers,  its  committees,  its  trustees, 
should  have  reference  to  this  its  final  cause.  For  any 
so-called  church  of  Christ  to  be  wholly  taken  up  with 
sustaining  its  own  interests  is  to  be  unchristian,  is  to 


386  PEDTCIPLES   OF   CHTJRCH  POLITY.         [lect.  xi. 

forget  the  true  functions  and  final  purpose  of  so  noble 
an  institution  as  a  church. 

In  all  ways  and  by  all  means  let  the  pastors  of  the 
particular  Congregational  churches  strive  to  make  these 
churches  feel  the  obligation  which  attaches  itself  to 
them  as  churches  to  aid  in  evangelizing  the  world. 
The  pressure  of  this  obligation  should  secure  in  every 
Congregational  church  in  Christendom  three  things : 
(1)  The  culture  of  intelligence  respecting  foreign  mis- 
sions, ending  in  the  excitement  of  interest ;  (2)  The  fos- 
tering and  growth  of  interest,  leading  to  the  use  of 
means ;  (3)  The  multiplication  and  increased  efficiency 
of  means,  demanding  more  hearty  and  frequent  prayers, 
more  generous  gifts  of  workmen  from  our  sons  and 
daughters,  and  of  money  and  supplies  from  our  treasu- 
ries and  storehouses.  Every  church  which  is  at  all 
living  up  to  the  measure  of  its  obligation  may  expect 
from  its  own  centre  to  move  the  whole  world  nearer  to 
Christ.  How  utterly  incalculable  is  the  dormant  force 
of  any  Christian  congregation,  we  may  learn  from  the 
case  of  Pastor  Louis  Harmes  and  the  congregation  at 
Herrmansburg,  in  Hanover.  The  little  German  village 
brought  its  power  to  bear  upon  the  continent  of  Africa : 
it  sent  its  missionaries  to  •  Australia,  the  East  Indies, 
and  our  own  Western  States.  It  established  a  mission- 
ary journal  which  attained  a  circulation  of  fourteen  thou- 
sand copies,  and  an  annual  missionary  festival  to  which 
came  six  thousand  people,  including  strangers  from  all 
parts  of  Europe.  Meanwhile  all  the  region  about, 
which  had  been  "  benumbed  by  Rationalism  and  by  a 
dead  Orthodoxy,"  was  so  stirred  into  new  life,  that  the 
number  of  communicants  was  multiplied  to  more  than 
two  thousand  souls.  That  the  particular  visible  church 
is  to  be,  as  a  church,  a  centre  of  evangelism,  and  that  it 


LECT,  XI.]    MSSIONS   AND   CHUECH  FELLOWSHIP.  387 

is  the  duty  and  hope  of  our  church  order  to  propagate 
the  gospel  by  establishing  everywhere  the  organism  of 
such  a  church,  should  be  the  undisturbed  and  influential 
conviction  of  every  Congregationalist. 

Several  of  the  principles  wliich  underlie  the  relations 
of  the  community  of  sister  Congregational  churches  to 
the  work  of  foreign  missions  have  already  been  more 
or  less  clearly  exposed.  The  individual  members  of 
the  separate  churches  should,  by  virtue  of  their  very 
title  to  membership,  be  united  in  the  work  of  evangel- 
ism. Those  of  them  who  cannot  themselves  go  here 
or  there  to  preach  the  gospel  unite  to  send  others,  and 
to  support  them  in  their  going.  By  this  spontaneous 
recognition  of  a  common  obligation  did  the  American 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  come  into  being :  by  the  same 
sort  of  recognition  has  it  thus  far  chiefly  been  sustained. 
The  communion  of  action  which  has  thus  far  achieved 
the  missionary  enterprises  of  the  churches  has  been, 
for  the  most  part,  of  the  spontaneous  kind  that  moves 
upon  the  hearts  of  certain  selected  individuals  in  the 
churches.  We  are  not,  however,  without  hopes  that 
somewhat  more,  and  beyond  all  this,  may  yet  be  accom^ 
plished  for  foreign  and  home  missions  through  this  prin- 
ciple of  communion.  Strictly  speaking,  the  communion 
of  the  churches,  as  distinguished  from  a  spontaneous 
communion  of  individual  members  of  different  churches, 
has  not  yet  been  made  efficient  for  the  common  work  of 
evangelism.  Can  such  a  commendable  efficiency  be 
created  and  sustained  ?  This  is  a  question  of  no  small 
interest  to  our  missionary  enterprises. 

The  second  of  the  two  distinct  duties  which  Dr. 
Harris  finds  involved  in  the  obligation  to  fellowship,  he 
has  thus  expressed :  ^  "  Churches  that  acknowledge  each 
1  Christian  Mirror,  May  16,  1865. 


388  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect.  xr. 

other  as  Christian  churches  must  co-operate  in  advan- 
cing the  common  interests  of  Christ's  kingdom."  This 
word  "  must "  is  to  be  understood  as  expressing  a  moral 
obligation.  In  what  manner,  however,  shall  the  obliga- 
tion be  enforced?  The  district  and  state  convention, 
the  association  and  consociation,  are  not  adapted  thor- 
oughly to  enforce  the  obligation.  They  may  recom- 
mend, for  the  increase  of  intelligence  and  interest,  the 
taking  of  missionary  pamphlets  and  papers ;  for  the 
supply  of  means,  some  one  of  the  always  numerous  new 
schemes  of  systematic  giving.  An  increased  number 
of  subscribers,  and  increased  contributions  of  money, 
may  possibly  be  the  temporary  result.  But  the  full 
and  complete  communion  of  the  churches  is  only  very 
meagrely  thereby  made  to  be  felt.  Shall,  then,  the  aid 
of  the  National  Council  with  great  confidence  be  in- 
voked? Will  it  surely  the  better  incite  the  commun- 
ion of  churches  for  the  evangelizing  of  the  world  ? 

The  very  first  truth  in  answer  to  this  question  is  sug- 
gested by  our  past  experience  as  incumbent  on  both 
memory  and  thought.  More  hardness  to  the  forms  of 
communion  of  churches,  and  more  pressure  in  forcing 
these  forms  to  acceptance,  will  not  secure  an  increase 
in  real  communion  of  heart  and  in  common  effort  for 
the  salvation  of  the  world :  on  the  contrary,  these 
things  thus  undertaken  will  tend  to  defeat  their  own 
end.  The  churches  are  not  the  more  really  united  by 
votes  passed  in  convention :  the  world  is  not  the  more 
quickly  evangelized  for  taking  an  affirmative  and  nega- 
tive show  of  hands.  The  means  which  lie  dormant  in 
the  communion  of  churches  are  not  by  such  mere  expe- 
dients to  be  more  efficiently  employed  in  order  to  reach 
the  end  which  awaits  the  millennial  day.  A  really  and 
completely  united  church  and  a  converted  world  imply 


LECT.  XI.]    MISSIONS   AND   CHTJKCH  FELLOWSHIP.  389 

each  the  other  in  idea  and  in  fact;  but  formal  meas- 
ures and  schemes  of  ecclesiastical  uniformity  will  bring 
neither  one  to  pass.  Shall,  then,  the  whole  matter  be 
left  hanging  mid-air?  Can  nothing  be  done  to  make 
Congregational  churches,  as  a  community  of  churches, 
use  the  dormant  forces  of  their  church  communion  to 
further  and  speed  the  conversion  of  the  world  ?  Much 
may  ultimately  be  done,  we  gladly  believe ;  but  we 
shall  not  reach  the  result  by  forcing  a  mere  uniformity 
of  methods,  or  by  appealing  to  a  denominational  pride. 
We  must  continue  to  appeal  to  the  higher  motives  of 
the  Christian  life,  to  touch  the  springs  of  consecrated 
effort  at  their  deepest  places.  The  conviction  that  a 
forced  and  merely  formal  union  in  schemes  is  not  the 
riglit  solution  of  this  problem  is  a  prime  requisite  for 
considering  such  a  problem  at  all. 

The  next  truth  to  be  insisted  upon  in  answer  to 
this  question  regards  further  the  final  cause  of  the 
churches  of  Christ.  The  end  of  evangelizing  the  world 
is  as  truly  the  end  before  all  the  churches  in  their  col- 
lective working  as  before  every  particular  church  and 
every  individual  soul.  The  command  of  Jesus  is  de- 
signed to  secure  a  manifested  unity  of  churches  in  the 
work  of  convertmg  the  world.  That  different  churches 
should  be  schismatic  and  quarrelsome  is  a  breach  of  the 
bond  created  by  their  Master  himself.  But  that  sacred 
bond,  the  tie  which  binds  our  hearts  in  Christian  love,  is 
not  merely  or  chiefly  a  barrier  against  quarrelling.  At  a 
prize-fight  the  crowd  are  kept  from  the  combatants  by 
a  rope,  lest  the  passions  of  the  spectators  should  force 
them  also  into  the  contest.  The  bond  of  unity  in 
Christ  is  not  a  barrier,  but  a  bond  of  union  for  a  com- 
mon end.  This  tie  binds  men  and  churches  into  one 
instrument  for   the   accomplisliing   of  a   great   divine 


390  PEINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.         [lect.  xi. 

purpose.  Christian  churches  must  be  one  in  order  that 
the  world  may  believe  on  Christ.  We  see,  then,  that 
the  very  law  of  the  communion  of  all  churches  requires 
that  all  shall  unite  in  evangelizing  the  world.  Congre- 
gational churches  are  bound  to  use  their  communion 
with  all  churches  of  Christ  in  the  view  to  unite  with  all 
in  the  work  of  evangelism. 

But  certain  mpre  special  forms  of  communion  can,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  take  place  only  amongst  churches 
which  have  the  same  church  polity.  From  this  fact 
arises  the  more  definite  and  concrete  obligation  of  all 
churches  of  our  church  order  to  unite  more  definitely 
among  themselves  in  the  evangelizing  of  the  world. 
From  this  fact  arises,  also,  the  more  definite  and  con- 
crete expression  of  the  end  for  which  they  unite.  The 
more  definite  and  concrete  end  of  church  communion  is, 
for  Congregational  churches,  the  end  of  planting  New- 
Testament  churches  far  and  wide  in  the  world.  This 
is  our  specific  and  definite  end  in  our  peculiar  work  of 
evangelism :  this  is  the  special  final  cause  which  unites 
us  as  Congregational  churches,  in  the  work  of  missions. 
I  will  say  again,  —  again  protesting  against  the  word,  — 
our  denominational  missionary  work  is  the  planting  in 
foreign  lands  of  churches  which  shall  themselves  be- 
come self-governed,  self-sustaining,  and  self-propagating 
churches.  To  this  end  we  should  be,  on  principle,  the 
most  compact,  aggressive,  and  determined  denomination 
upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  To  this  end  we  should  sum- 
mon all  the  resources  of  our  churches,  should  strive  to 
unite  all  hearts  who  feel  with  us,  and  employ  all  hands 
that  can  be  consecrated  to  such  work. 

This  view  of  our  specific  work  will  alone  serve,  on 
the  one  hand,  to  give  pith  and  definiteness  to  our  aims, 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  to  guard  against  sectarian  big- 


LECT.  XI.]    MISSIONS   AND   CHURCH  FELLOWSHIP.  391 

otry,  zeal,  and  pride.  We  have  no  right  to  summon  the 
holy  principle  of  the  communion  of  Christian  churches 
in  order  to  build  up  a  large  denomination,  and  spread  a 
sounding  denominational  name  abroad  throughout  the 
earth.  In  itself  it  is  a  matter  of  no  importance  at  all 
whether  we  are  the  chiefest  or  the  meanest  of  the  sects, 
at  home  or  abroad.  With  regard  to  sectarianism,  the 
main  obligation  is  that  we  shall  not  be  a  sect  at  all.  But 
we  have  just  as  little  right  to  refrain  from  the  specific 
work  of  propagating  our  principles  —  the  principles  of 
liberty,  love,  and  exclusive  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ 
—  as  embodied  in  Congregationally  governed  churches. 
And  for  this  specific  work  we  are  bound  to  summon 
the  principle  of  the  communion  of  the  churches.  The 
truth  of  our  case  is  very  much  as  follows  :  Many  of  our 
leaders,  pastors,  and  churches,  have  held  no  intelligent 
doctrine  of  the  church  as  a  means  in  the  hand  of  Christ 
to  accomplish  his  final  purpose,  —  the  salvation  .of  the 
world.  A  shallow  and  selfish  and  barren  expediency 
has  taken  the  place  of  the  burning  devotion  to  prin- 
ciples which  moved  our  fathers  in  propagating  their 
idea  of  the  Christian  Church.  As  the  inevitable  result, 
this  idea  and  practice,  called  Congregationalism,  have 
not  been  propagated  as  fast  and  far  as  we  could  wish. 
And  now,  therefore,  some  are  apparently  proposing,  for 
the  twentieth  time  in  the  history  of  our  church  order, 
some  new  machinery  of  formalism,  ecclesiasticism,  or 
so-called  centralizing ;  as  though  the  remedy  for  indif- 
ference to  principles  were  to  be  found  in  more  sectarian 
zeal ;  as  though,  indeed,  the  bringing-about  of  a  formal 
expression  of  unity  would  really  secure  from  the  com- 
munity of  Christian  churches  another  consecrated  dollar, 
or  prayer,  or  laborer  for  missionary  work.  The  diffusion 
of  this  truth,  however,  —  that  the  very  end  for  which 


892  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  xi. 

Congregational  churches  exist  and  have  communion  at 
all  is  not  only  the  conversion  of  men  to  Clirist,  but  also 
their  establishment  in  self-controlled,  self-sustaining, 
self-propagating  churches,  —  is  an  indispensable  requisite 
of  our  most  efficient  missionary  work.  The  communion 
of  churches  is  a  recognized  principle  of  the  true  church 
polity.  But  to  what  end,  or  for  what  purpose,  do  Con- 
gregational churches  commune  with  one  another?  The 
end  is  twofold :  the  purpose  is  divided  in  thought,  to 
be  again  united  in  fact.  The  communion  of  Congre- 
gational churches  exists  in  order  that  the  existing 
churches  may  be  edified,  and  in  order  that  there  may  he 
other  Congregational  churches  planted  far  and  wide  in 
the  world.  The  propagation  of  a  denominational  name 
and  a  system  of  sectarian  appliances  is  not  a  worthy 
end  of  the  communion  of  churches.  The  propagation 
of  the  principles  of  the  New  Testament  concerning  the 
Church,  and  as  embodied  in  particular  visible  churches, 
is  such  a  worthy  end.  To  this  end,  then,  must  the 
churches  be  taught  that  their  communion  looks  for- 
ward. 

But  how  shall  they  be  effectively  thus  taught?  How 
shall  Congregational  churches  be  made  to  see  and  feel 
that  Jesus  Christ  bids  them  to  unite  in  planting  his 
churches  in  the  whole  earth?  The  answers  to  this 
question  are  easier  put  upon  paper  than  converted  into 
realized  facts.  I  indicate  very  briefly  a  few  of  the 
methods  at  our  disposal :  — 

1.  The  pastors  of  Congregational  churches  must  be 
made  intelligent  converts  to  the  above-mentioned  truths. 
The  ministers  who  do  not  become  missionaries,  tech- 
nically so  called,  may  surely  be  expected  to  lead  and 
instruct  their  people  concerning  the  nature  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  upon  the  earth.     They  may  be  expected  to 


LECT.  XI.]    MISSIONS   AND   CHURCH  FELLOWSHIP.  393 

instruct  and  lead  their  churches  to  unite  with  sister- 
churches  in  multiplying  other  churches  far  and  wide. 
For  what  end  are  they  set  as  pastors  over  the  churches, 
if  not  to  make  the  churches  send  their  light  abroad  in 
the  earth  ?  No  more  important  question  can  be  asked 
of  a  young  minister  in  his  examination  for  ordination 
than  the  following:  "Do  you  recognize  your  solemn 
responsibility  before  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  incite 
and  lead  this  people  in  their  work  of  qvangelism,  and 
do  you  before  God  solemnly  pledge  yourself  bravely 
and  lovingly  to  be  their  leader  and  example  in  this 
work?"  When  the  pastors  of  our  churches  have  the 
broad  and  intense  spirit  of  true  evangelists,  they  will 
lead  their  churches  to  unite  in  the  work  of  evangelism. 

2.  The  particular  churches  must  also  be  made  con- 
verts to  the  same  truths.  But  how  shall  this  be  done  ? 
I  have  already  said  that  it  should  be  done  through 
their  pastors.  I  have  also  already  said  that  every  new 
church,  when  instituted,  should  acknowledge  in  its 
covenant  what  is  its  final  cause  as  a  church.  It  would 
better  far  carry  a  pledge  to  be  a  missionary  church 
into  its  covenant  than  to  retain  some  other  pledges 
usually  found  in  such  covenants.  The  advising  council 
should  solemnly  advise  the  new  church  that  it  comes  as 
a  Congregational  church  into  a  sisterhood  of  churches, 
under  an  implied  pledge  to  join  hands  with  them  in 
missionary  work. 

3.  Churches  should  incite,  encourage,  and  even  re- 
prove and  admonish  one  another  with  respect  to  their 
common  missionary  enterprises.  A  Congregational 
church  which  is  so  heretical  in  doctrine,  and  unfaithful 
in  practice,  as  to  take  no  interest  or  part  in  missions, 
should  be  dealt  with  in  most  tender  Christian  fashion 
by  the  neighboring  churches.     Delegates  and  visitors 


394  PRINCIPLES    OF   CHURCH   POLITY.         [lect,  xi. 

should  report  from  one  church  to  another :  they  should 
go  from  churches  interested  to  churches  uninformed 
and  uninterested,  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  them  in 
evangelistic  work. 

4.  All  the  more  formal  means  of  communion,  the  con- 
ventions and  councils,  the  associations  and  consocia- 
tions, should  more  and  more  largely  acknowledge  in 
their  meetings  the  claims  upon  them  for  interest  in  the 
missionary  work  of  the  churches.  They  should  con- 
stantly regard,  as  one  chief  reason  why  they  come 
together,  the  increase  in  vigor  and  effectiveness  of  the 
means  employed  for  scattering  the  churches  of  the  New- 
Testament  order,  like  seeds  over  the  face  of  a  sown 
field,  as  thickly  as  churches  will  grow  over  the  face  of 
the  earth. 

5.  The  relations  of  the  various  kinds  and  branches 
of  the  work  of  evangelism  must  be  brought  into  closer 
and  more  organic  connections,  if  not  of  formal  organi- 
zation, at  least  of  interest  and  life.  There  is  "  a  vital 
connection,"  as  Dr.  E.  K.  Alden  has  declared,  "of 
aggressive  missionary  energy  with  the  fellowship  of 
churches."  ^ 

From  the  same  source  I  will  quote,  in  closing,  two 
sentences  which  comprehensively  assert  the  most  im- 
portant truths  concerning  the  relation  of  the  principle 
of  the  communion  of  Congregational  churches  to  the 
spread  of  missions  in  the  world :  "  The  only  efficient 
bond  of  union  for  a  fellowship  of  well-organized  work- 
ing churches  must  be,  not  only  some  common  impera- 
tive work,  but  a  peculiar  kind  of  work ;  viz.,  a  work 
which  will  at  the  same  time  develop  a  church,  and  pro- 
mote the  communion  of  churches.  .  .  .  We  want  no 

1  See  a  very  interesting  and  instructive  sermon  on  this  subject, 
delivered  before  the  American  Home  Missionary  Society  in  1872. 


LECT.  XI.]  MISSIONS   AND   CHURCH  FELLOWSHIP.  395 

unity  of  the  church  except  through  the  inspiration  of 
some  such  great  benevolent  work  as  this,  no  human 
lordship  over  Christ's  churches,  but  the  unity  in  all  of 
the  same  Divine  Spirit,  —  God's  own  method  of  carry- 
ing forward  to  its  final  triumph  his  own  glorious  king- 
dom." 


LECTURE  XII. 

PRESENT   AND   PROSPECTIVE  TENDENCIES   OF    CONGRE- 
GATIONALISM. 

If  the  course  followed  in  these  Lectures  has  been 
well  taken,  we  should  by  this  time  have  reached  a 
point  of  view  from  which  to  make  a  somewhat  wider 
and  more  intelligent  survey  of  our  entire  field.  It  will 
belong,  indeed,  to  those  who  come  after  us,  to  discover 
impartially  the  drifts  or  tendencies  which  are  carrying 
forward  the  present  generation  of  individuals  and 
churches.  Yet  we  who  are  of  this  generation  may 
expect,  by  the  study  of  principles  as  they  are  embodied 
in  the  institutions  of  our  own  time,  to  acquire  some 
power  of  discernment.  We  may  hope  to  discover  even 
those  very  drifts  or  tendencies  which  are  carrying  us, 
with  others,  along  upon  themselves.  It  is  wise  for  us 
occasionally  to  ask.  By  what  larger  influences,  and  in 
what  remoter  directions,  are  we  being  moved?  It  is 
not  safe  for  us  to  misunderstand  those  influences,  or  to 
mistake  their  directions. 

Let  the  plan  of  these  Lectures  be  at  this  point 
momentarily  recalled  to  mind.  Their  whole  intent  has 
been  to  present  an  analysis  and  survey  of  the  princi- 
ples which  underlie  the  true  Church  Polity,  especially 
as  that  polity  has  been  more  or  less  completely  realized 
in  Modern  Congregationalism.     That  our  own  church 

396 


LECT.  xn.]  SURVEY   OF   THE   COUESE.  397 

order  has  been  the  only  or  the  complete  exemplifica- 
tion of  all  these  principles,  we  have  not  once  claimed. 

The  analysis,  having  first  been  made,  has  afterward 
been  justified  by  finding  the  very  same  principles  which 
it  discovered  interwoven  with,  and  giving  form  and  life 
to,  all  the  distinctive  movements  of  the  most  Christian 
churches.  It  has  been  seen  that  the  Word  of  God  in 
the  Scriptures  must,  according  to  our  formal  principle, 
be  regarded  as  giving  the  indestructible  norm  of  a  true 
church  polity :  it  has  also  been  seen  that  the  doctrinal 
substance  of  this  polity  is,  according  to  the  material 
principle,  concealed  in  this  persuasion,  —  every  indi- 
vidual believer,  and  every  particular  visible  church  of 
Christ,  has  full  and  immediate  communion,  for  purposes 
of  doctrine  and  of  self-control,  with  the  illumining 
Spirit  of  Christ.  Communion  of  the  soul  with  God, 
communion  of  the  spiritually  enlightened  human  spirit 
with  the  illumining  Divine  Spirit,  is,  then,  the  one 
underlying  and  organific  idea  of  our  church  order. 
The  way  in  which  this  church  order  emphasizes  and 
strives  to  realize  this  idea,  both  for  the  individual 
believer  and  for  the  particular  visible  church,  accounts 
for  all  those  more  patent  distinctions  which  differen- 
tiate it  from  the  other  church  orders  of  Christendom. 
It  differs  from  them,  not  in  that  it  asserts,  while  they 
deny,  its  formal  and  its  material  principle :  it  differs, 
rather,  in  the  degree  of  intensity  and  thoroughness 
with  which  it  asserts  both  these  principles. 

Certain  selected  topics  have  been  discussed  in  the 
light  of  this  analysis,  and  with  a  view  to  show  the  per- 
tinency in  application  of  these  principles  to  all  the  more 
important  activities  and  interests  of  churc'h  life.  We 
trust,  that,  even  by  the  dim  shining  of  our  words,  these 
principles  have  been  seen  to  be  not  only  noble  in  them- 


398  PRINCIPLES   OP  CHTJECH  POLITY.        [lect.  xii. 

selves,  but  nobly  adapted  to  the  needs  of  manhood  and 
to  the  necessities  of  faith,  and  as  well  capable  of  wide 
and  vigorous  self-propagation  over  the  face  of  the  whole 
earth. 

A  single  caution  with  reference  to  the  course  trav- 
ersed, and  we  will  then  turn  our  faces  from  the  past  to 
look  upon  the  surrounding  present,  and  toward  that 
future  which  lies  just  before.  Doubtless  much  dissatis- 
faction may  arise  in  your  minds  as  to  the  indefiniteness 
in  which  certain  questions  bravely  and  frankly  raised 
by  our  church  order  have  finally  been  left.  The  mind 
likes  the  thought  of  the  infallible  in  church  polity  as 
well  as  in  doctrine  and  life.  There  is  a  sort  of  premoni- 
tory aching  in  the  heart  of  the  young  minister  for  some 
guaranteed  and  patented  charm  against  mistakes  of 
judgment  and  against  the  fruits  of  such  mistakes.  Ah ! 
if  he  could  but  be  told  beforehand  precisely  what  to  do 
in  each  emergency  which  is  liable  or  possible  to  arise. 
The  church  order  which  has  a  Bishop  or  a  Book  of  Dis- 
cipline to  relieve  this  very  natural  anxiety  brings  a 
great  balm  of  consolation  to  such  an  aching  heart. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  pastor  of  long  standing,  whose 
church  affairs  have  not  gone  conspicuously  well,  is 
tempted  to  think  that  they  would  have  gone  much 
better  under  a  different  way  of  ordering  church  affairs. 
And  this  feeling  may  not  unfrequently  be  true ;  for 
the  Congregational  way  of  managing  churches  is  con- 
fessedly not  favorable  to  the  success  of  men  as  pastors, 
who  must  either  lean  hard  on  others  for  support,  or  else 
have  a  mistaken  and  overweening  confidence  in  their 
ability  to  stand  alone.  It  will  be  one  coveted  result  of 
our  common  work  of  inquiry,  if  we  are  all  immediately 
persuaded  to  abandon  the  expectation  of  attaining  the 
infallible  in  church  polity.     Even  if  the  infallible  in 


LECT.  XII.]  NO   INFALLIBLE   POLITY.  399 

doctrine,  as  to  all  its  details  and  precise  shades  of  state- 
ment, be  to  be  found  outside  of  the  Divine  Mind  itself, 
it  is  certain  that  there  is  no  infallible  system  for  the 
constitution,  discipline,  and  worship  of  the  churches. 
At  least,  such  an  infallible  polity  is  not  to  be  practi- 
cally attained  this  side  of  the  completed  wisdom  and 
perfected  holiness  of  all  the  members  of  the  churches. 
If  we  should  decide  it  better  not  to  bear  those  ills  we 
have,  and  so  the  rather  "  fly  to  others  that  we  know  not 
of,"  and  if  in  our  flight  we  should  take  the  wings  of 
the  morning,  and  go  to  the  uttermost  confines  of  the 
church  universal  and  of  universal  church  history,  we 
should  still  be  far  removed  from  an  "  infallible  polity." 
We  should  probably,  however,  discover  more  both  of 
our  blessings  and  of  our  own  faults.  We  should  dis- 
cover, that  upon  the  very  features  of  our  church  order 
now  esteemed  less  honorable,  we  ought  to  have  be- 
stowed the  more  abundant  honor.  We  should,  perhaps, 
also  discover  that  the  really  covetable  features  of  the 
other  denominations  are  those  which  we  have,  in  fact, 
not  coveted,  and  are  those  which  we  might  imitate  with 
no  great  difficulty  while  remaining  in  our  own.  For 
instance,  the  zeal,  self-denial,  versatility,  and  audacity 
of  Methodism  are  the  very  qualities  which  we  have 
most  need  to  borrow  from  them,  rather  than  rebuke  in 
them ;  but  we  have  need  to  avoid,  rather  than  to  covet, 
their  bishop,  presiding  elder,  compacted  organization, 
and  hot  sectarianism. 

Doubtless,  let  the  admission  be  at  once  and  frankly 
made,  in  making  the  very  applications  of  those  princi- 
ples which  have  been  most  discussed  in  these  Lectures, 
many  important  contingencies  not  contemplated  herein 
may  at  times  arise.  To  plant  ourselves,  for  instance, 
upon  the  principle  of  a  regenerate  membership,  in  both 


400  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  xii. 

the  positive  and  the  negative  requisitions  of  that  princi- 
ple, may  involve  us  in  certain  most  puzzling  questions, 
and  even  in  apparently  dangerous  acts.  How  shall  we, 
when  thus  involved,  then  proceed  ?  In  general,  it  may 
be  said  that  a  wise  and  firm  adherence  to  principle  is 
the  expedient  and  safest  course  for  both  pastors  and 
churches.  As  to  the  details  of  conduct  in  which  the 
adherence  to  principles  should  be  expressed,  Congrega- 
tionalism, in  large  measure,  refers  us  to  its  common  law. 
Almost  all  of  the  forms  of  procedure  for  instituting  a 
church,  for  ordaining  its  officers,  for  calling  councils, 
for  expressing  and  ratifying  the  decrees  of  councils,  as 
these  forms  are  given  in  our  Congregational  manuals, 
are  not,  in  their  essence,  to  be  spoken  of  as  Congrega- 
tionalism at  all ;  but  they  are  parts,  although  it  may 
be  still  doubtful  and  disputable  parts,  of  the  common 
law  in  present  use  by  Congregationalists.  And  the  due 
use  of  past  results  of  experience  as  expressed  in  com- 
mon law  is,  as  we  have  seen,  a  derived  principle  of  our 
church  order.  The  common-law  principle  provides, 
then,  not  only  that  each  individual  shall  use  his  sanc- 
tified common  sense,  but  it  also  provides  a  certain  set 
of  rules  and  customs  in  which  the  common  sense  has 
taken  concrete  form.  These  rules  and  customs  are 
themselves  to  be  used,  not  as  integral  parts  of  Congre- 
gationalism,—  for  they  can  never  become  this  —  but  in 
a  principled  and  truly  helpful  way.  And,  whenever 
principle  compels  us  to  set  aside  any  of  these  accredited 
rules  and  customs,  this,  also,  is  fearlessly  and  yet  wisely 
to  be  done.  Nor  does  the  doing  of  this  constitute  m 
itself  a  breach  of  communion ;  nor  is  it  to  be  treated  as 
a  result  of  the  spirit  of  segregation  and  schism.  Where 
the  rules  and  customs  of  Congregationalism  have  grown 
into  forms  which  controvert  its  very  principles,  those 


LECT.  XII.]         THE  EIGHT   USE   OF   MANUALS.  401 

forms  are  on  principle  to  be  accused  and  opposed.  They 
^are,  in  such  case,  not  to  be  regarded  as  mere  develop- 
ments of  our  church  order  which  it  is  desirable  to  secure, 
but  rather  as  dangerous  accretions  which  it  is  necessary 
to  purge  away.  For  to  fall  back  from  rules  and  customs 
upon  principles  is  of  the  very  essence  of  Congregation- 
alism. But  the  proper  course  of  purgation  is  not  the 
act  of  cutting  which  separates  brethren,  but  the  con- 
tinuous cutting-away  of  error  which  relieves  all  the 
brethren  of  their  accretion  of  error  while  they  still  re- 
main united  in  the  remaining  truth.  To  have  rules 
and  customs  which  may  not  be  criticised  and  amended 
is  uncongregational. 

While,  then,  I  recommend  to  you  the  study  of  so- 
called  manuals  for  the  details  of  law  and  custom  con- 
tained in  them,  and  recommend  also  that  you  should, 
as  long  as  you  can  do  so  in  a  principled  way,  conform 
with  all  the  details  of  this  law  and  custom,  I  recom- 
mend, the  rather  and  the  more  heartily,  the  study  of  the 
principles  of  Congregationalism  as  they  are  to  be  seen 
developed  and  illustrated  in  its  own  history.  This 
study  of  history  you  must,  for  the  most  part,  conduct  by 
unprejudiced  reading  of  the  older  books.  But,  above 
all,  ground  yourself  in  principles ;  for,  if  you  are  not 
a  Congregationalist  from  principle,  you  would  really 
better  not  be  one  at  all.  The  very  nature  of  our 
church  order  forbids  its  successful  working  as  a  mere 
matter  of  expediency.  To  treat  and  hold  it  as  a 
matter  of  expediency  is,  indeed,  very  inexpedient :  to 
treat  it  and  to  hold  it  as  a  matter  of  principle  is  the 
only  true  expediency.  If  the  general  form  of  your 
church  polity  is  indifferent  to  you,  by  all  means  take 
up  wdth  some  specific  polity  where  the  class  of  indiffer- 
ents   can   more  safely  leave  the  interested  to  manage 


402  PRINCIPLES   OF  CHURCH  POLITY.       [lect.  xii. 

matters  entirely  in  their  own  way.  And  let  me  assure 
yon,  that  if  you  will  study  Congregationalism,  not  as  a 
matter  of  rules  and  customs  fit  for  record  in  a  manual, 
but  as  a  matter  of  principles  moving  forward  and  dif- 
fusing themselves  in  all  its  history,  you  will  be  likely 
to  become  its  hearty  convert.  You  will  be  willing  to 
dispense  with  the  definite  regulations  of  the  bishopric, 
o'r  the  book  of  discipline,  if  only  you  can  yourself  in- 
telligently take  part  in  the  work  of  getting  for  these 
large  and  noble  principles  a  completer  realization  in 
the  churches  of  Christ.  Nor  need  this  work  seem  in- 
definite and  in  mid-air ;  for,  as  we  have  already  seen, 
the  planting,  nourishing,  and  multiplying  of  churches 
which  give  a  concrete  embodiment  to  these  principles, 
—  of  churches  that  are  self-controlled,  self-sustaining, 
and  self-propagating,  although  in  loving  and  manifest 
communion  with  one  another,  —  is  the  distinctive  de- 
nominational  work  of  Congregationalism. 

With  these  introductory  cautions  we  turn  now  to 
contemplate,  in  the  light  of  our  past  discussion,  certain 
drifts  and  tendencies  of  present  Congregationalism. 

The  distinguishing  and  significant  feature  of  the  • 
church  polity  of  the  present  time  is  its  extreme  rest- 
lessness. The  spirit  of  change  seems  to  have  pervaded 
nearly  all  personalities  and  institutions :  the  desire  or 
the  foreboding  of  change  seems  to  have  taken  posses- 
sion of  all  hearts.  Customs  are  to  be  altered;  laws 
and  precedents  are  liable  to  be  speedily  or  even  scorn- 
fully set  aside.  The  formalities  of  the  ages,  the  wor- 
ship and  hymns  of  the  ages,  the  churches  of  the  ages, 
the  doctrines  of  the  ages,  are  all  to  be  considered  from 
multiform  and  shifting  points  of  view.  Somewhat,,  it  is 
universally  assumed,  must  speedily  be  done  for  the 
better  organization  of  the  Christian  Church,  even  though 


LECT.  xn.]        SPIRIT   OF   CHANGE  IN  POLITY.  403 

the  precise  somewhat  to  be  done  cannot  be  described 
with  great  definiteness  by  any  leading  mind.  That  the 
affairs  of  our  own  church  order  have  not  hitherto  gone 
thoroughly  well,  all  its  adherents  are  ready  to  admit : 
therefore  all  will  at  once  and  eagerly,  as  a  penance  for 
the  common  past  indifference,  undertake  the  emenda- 
tion of  these  affairs.  That  many  proposals  for  changes 
are  running  to  and  fro  among  the  Congregational 
churches,  there  can  be  little  doubt ;  but  there  is  more 
doubt  as  to  whether  thereby  knowledge  will  be  greatly 
increased.  Whenever  we  seem  ready  to  secure  a  tem- 
porary rest  from  new  endeavors  at  improving  the  situa- 
tion, the  ghost  of  evolution  —  that  charming  and  royal 
shade  which  haunts  all  modern  theology  as  well  as 
science  —  stalks  upon  the  scene  to  say,  "Do  not  for- 
get :  this  visitation  is  but  to  whet  thy  almost  blunted 
purpose." 

Concerning  this  restlessness  which  both  afflicts  and 
spurs  to  new  endeavors  the  Congregational  church 
polity,  we  observe  at  once  the  following  truth.  This 
restlessness  is  only  one  form  of  the  common  manifesta- 
tion which  now  pervades  the  entire  life  of  Christendom. 
Somewhat  new  and  somewhat  momentous,  the  momen- 
tously new,  hovers  in  the  air  over  all  businesses,  politics, 
social  customs,  and  religious  forms.  This  amazing  stir 
in  the  life-blood  of  the  nations  reaches  every  minutest 
artery  and  vein,  and  quickness  to  new  activity  both 
the  decay  and  the  repair  of  the  body  politic  in  Church 
and  State.  Of  this  universal  restlessness  our  corporate 
church  existence  cannot  well  fail  to  partake.  The  un- 
thinking indifference  of  the  middle  ages  as  to  civil  and 
religious  institutions  and  doctrines  has  given  way  to  its 
modern  opposite.  The  arm  of  the  great  Titan  is  raised 
to  break  the  mould  of  the  very  customs  which  he  has 


404  PEINCIPLES   or   CHUECH   POLITY.        [lect.  xii. 

liiinself  sweat  so  long  in  making.  And  whereas  the 
care  bestowed  upon  a  true  church  polity  by  the  Puri- 
tans was  for  a  time  lost  in  the  polemical  zeal  over  cer- 
tain disputed  doctrines,  but  has  of  late  re-appeared  in 
other  forms,  it  is  not  strange  that  this  care  should, 
under  the  circumstances,  express  itself  in  restless  plan- 
ning for  ill-considered  change. 

Three  or  four  of  the  more  specific  manifestations  or 
results  of  this  prevalent  spirit  of  restlessness  need  to 
be  considered  in  order  that  we  may  comprehend  those 
tendencies  which  are  discernible  in  the  church  polity 
of  the  age.  The  prevalent  feeling  is  one  of  dissatis- 
faiction  with  the  present  organization  of  the  Christian 
Church.  Any  special  dissatisfaction  with  Congrega- 
tionalism may  be  considered  as  in  part  one  manifesta- 
tion of  the  larger  spirit  of  dissatisfaction.  The  spirit 
of  change  always  tends  to  find  fault  with  the  old,  to 
accuse  the  older  institutions  and  forms  for  the  ill  suc- 
cesses experienced,  and  to  long  and  work  for  some 
change  in  institutions  and  forms.  It  might  be  sup- 
posed that  the  reverse  process  would  be  the  truly 
natural  course.  It  might  be  supposed  that  men  always 
become  rationally  dissatisfied  with  the  old  because  they 
have  actually  found  it  imperfect  or  harmful,  and  that 
they  therefore  reasonably  seek  and  plan  for  some 
change ;  but  probably,  in  most  cases,  the  dim  uncon- 
scious restlessness  of  spirit  is  the  general  movement 
out  of  which  the  special  dissatisfaction  primarily  comes. 
Of  Congregationalism  it  is  not  true  that  we  have  any 
sufficient  and  rational  ground  for  being  dissatisfied  with 
any  of  its  more  ancient  and  honorable  forms ;  and 
certainly  we  cannot  wish  to  effect  a  change  in  the 
principles  which  characterize  the  true  church  polity. 
The  real  and  rather  shameful  truth  is  that  most  men 


LECT.  xii.]         SPIEIT   OF   CHANGE  IN   POLITY.  405 

have  not  for  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  given  enough  of 
honest  and  wise  thought  to  any  of  the  more  important 
forms  of  sucli  a  polity  to  be  entitled  to  a  trustworthy 
opinion  on  grounds  of  experience  as  to  whether  or  not 
they  admit  of  any  change.  We  share,  indeed,  in  the 
spirit  of  restlessness  which  pervades  all  kinds  and  de- 
grees of  life.  We  find  enough  of  imperfection  in  Con- 
gregational churches  and  institutions,  most  of  which, 
as  we  do  not  like  to  reflect,  is  directly  due  to  the  indiffer- 
ence and  unwisdom  of  those  who  have  managed  the 
working  of  these  churches  and  institutions.  We  there- 
fore conclude,  and  logically,  that  it  is  easier  to  blame 
and  change  the  ancient  form  than  to  blame  and  change 
the  men  who  administer  the  form.  Or  it  may  be  that  a 
re-action  from  the  excesses  of  tliis  very  spirit  of  change 
has  set  in  with  certain  classes,  and  that  this  re-action 
itself  takes  the  form  of  dissatisfaction  with  that  mode 
of  governing  churches  which  is  believed  most  to  invite 
continual  change.  The  mind  thus  afflicted  seeks  rest 
in  some  compacted  and  concrete  authority  which  may 
more  successfully  resist  the  innovations  of  a  restless 
age.     Having  taken  up  the  cry  of  Faber's  hymn  :  — 

"  O  Lord,  my  heart  is  sick, 
Sick  of  this  everlasting  change, 
And  life  runs  tediously  quick 
Through  its  unresting  race  and  varied  range," 

the  heart  thinks  to  attribute  its  sickness  to  the  cramped 
and  unskilful  construction  of  the  cradle  in  which  its 
infancy  was  rocked,  or  of  the  house  in  which  its  earlier 
manhood  was  spent.  Just  one  more  change  from  Con- 
gregationalism to  something  e^se,  or  of  Congregation- 
alism itself  in  one  or  two  particulars,  and  then,  _so 
the  patient  thinks,  we  might  all  quietly  and  safely  rest 
from  change. 


406  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.        [lect.  xn. 

The  prevalence  of  this  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with 
all  the  more  ancient  and  honorable  customs  of  our  church 
order  is,  indeed,  a  notable  phenomenon  of  the  times. 
Few  congregations  are  satisfied  with  the  time-honored 
relations  to  their  pastors ;  as  few  pastors,  with  those 
which  the  men  of  the  past  sustained  to  their  congre- 
gations. Rapid  changes  between  the  two  result  from 
this  dissatisfaction.  We  have  various  reasons  for  each 
one  of  these  particular  changes,  rehearsed  before  our 
councils  and  upon  the  pages  of  our  papers ;  but  the 
subtle,  gnawing  pain  of  restlessness  is  the  one  explana- 
tion for  the  greater  part  of  them  all.  Few  adherents 
of  the  Congregational  church  polity  are  thoroughly 
well  satisfied  with  all  its  principles.  There  is  not  one 
of  all  its  more  important,  ancient,  and  honorable  insti- 
tutions or  customs,  which  a  large  number  of  nominal 
Congregation alists  would  not  gladly  see  changed.  In- 
deed, the  talk  and  effort  for  important  changes  in  them 
all  are  but  an  open  secret.  The  ancient  customs  of 
the  advisory  or  mutual  council  among  neighboring 
churches,  of  ruling  the  local  church  by  a  body  of  men 
called  elders  and  selected  from  its  own  members,  of  the 
ordination  at  the  hands  of  every  church  of  its  own 
pastor,  of  permitting  the  individual  believer  to  make 
his  own  profession  of  faith,  have  already  undergone 
an  almost  total  change. 

But  this  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  is  not  an  affliction 
peculiar  to  our  church  order.  It  permeates  and  modi- 
fies all  institutions  and  customs,  and  stimulates  to  rapid 
and  unthinking  movements  in  every  form  of  life.  It 
is  one  manifestation,  everywhere  found,  of  the  blind 
and  impulsive,  or  more  intelligent,  restlessness  of  the 
age.  Princes  and  peasants,  artists  and  artisans,  priests 
and  politicians,  rich  and  poor,  young  and  old,  are  alike 


LECT.  xn.]   BENEFITS   OF   THE   SPIRIT   OF   CHANGE.         407 

afflicted  with  discontent.  All  commercial,  political, 
educational,  and  social  institutions  and  affairs  are  ren- 
dered soluble  by  this  spirit.  All  the  religious  denomi- 
nations of  Christendom  are  as  much  out  of  entire 
self-complacency  as  are  we :  they  have,  indeed,  on  the 
whole,  as  good  reason  to  be  dissatisfied  with  themselves. 
There  is  not  one  of  them  which .  is  not  bubbling  in  its 
uwn  denominational  kettle,  while  the  attendant  cooks 
are  quite  unable  to  tell  when  it  will  boil  over  the 
sides.  Even  the  Eternal  City  is  shaken,  and  the  Pope 
is  made  to  know,  that,  although  infallible  in  matters  of 
religious  doctrine,  he  cannot  safely  predict  what  trans- 
formations will  take  place  in  the  church  order  of  which 
he  is  the  infallible  head. 

This  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  present  organ- 
ization of  the  Christian  Church  is  by  no  means  an  un- 
mixed evil.  It  is  but  true  that  no  present  form  of  or- 
ganization faithfully  represents  the  ideal  form  of  church 
life.  Craving  is  the  spur  of  life :  self-complacency  is 
likely  to  put  a  bridle  upon  progress,  or  even  to  tie  a 
halter  about  its  neck.  The  objectionable  features  of 
this  dissatisfaction  with  Congregationalism,  even  within 
our  own  ranks,  are  largely  caused  by  ignorance  as  to 
the  proper  objects  to  which  the  dissatisfaction  should 
be  applied.  That  things  are  largely  awry  in  the  uni- 
verse there  can  be  no  doubt.  The  nineteenth  century 
was  indeed  at  one  time  heralded  as  the  dawn  of  mil- 
lennium. Mechanics,  science,  and  humanity  were  in 
those  days  expected  rather  speedily  and  easily  to  bring 
forward  the  reign  of  universal  plenty  and  peace.  The 
song  of  jubilee  was  noisily  sung  through  the  streets  of 
Mansoul.  But  the  voices  which  joined  so  lustily  in 
the  chorus  have  either  died  away,  or  grown  somewhat 
cracked  and  thin.     And  now  a*  shallow  and  despairing 


408  PEINCIPLES   OP   CHURCH   POLITY.        [lect.  xn. 

pessimism  in  philosophy,  literature,  and  even  in  the- 
ology, seems  on  the  point  of  substituting  itself  for  this 
former  shallow  and  gushing  optimism.  The  churches 
are  being  infected,  by  way  of  antidote  for  the  disease 
of  religious  optimism,  with  an  equally  dangerous  and 
disorganizing  religious  pessimism.  Since  the  kingdom 
did  not  come  by  steam  and  electricity  in  our  day,  — 
and  what  other  day,  after  all,  so  fit  for  its  coming  as 
our  day?  —  we  are  much  in  doubt  whether  it  will  come 
at  all.  Within  our  church  order,  as  elsewhere,  much 
dissatisfaction  and  discouragement  are  the  due  and 
necessary  re-action  from  former  inordinate  claims  and 
hopes.  The  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  seeks  relief:  it 
hopes  for  relief  in  changing  some  of  the  things  which 
seem  to  have  worked  ill  in  that  order.  This  feeling 
is,  on  the  whole,  a  hopeful  one  to  see  ;  for  it  promises 
new  discussion,  and  new  knowledge  upon  the  matters 
discussed. 

This  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  has  hitherto,  however, 
for  the  most  part,  fastened  upon  the  wrong  subjects  for 
change  :  it  has  mistaken  the  causes  of  the  evils  with 
which  it  is  dissatisfied.  Let  us  see  clearly  and  speak 
plainly  upon  this  point.  Some  Congregationalists  ap- 
pear to  be  dissatisfied  even  with  the  ancient  principles 
of  their  church  polity ;  they  doubt  whether  these  are 
New-Testament  principles ;  they  have  little  doubt  that 
such  principles  will  not  succeed.  Others  are,  while 
claiming  heartily  to  accept  the  principles,  dissatisfied 
with  their  previous  concrete  expression,  even  in  the 
most  important  institutions,  customs,  and  rules  of  our 
church  order.  It  is  always  objectively  possible,  we  will 
admit,  that  some  of  these  institutions,  customs,  or  rules, 
may  need  to  be  changed.  Progress  by  change  is  a  rec- 
ognized principle  of  our  church  order.     It  is,  however, 


rECT.  xn.]    DANGER   OF   SCHISM  FROM  CHANGE.  409 

in  my  opinion  true,  that  not  a  single  speaker  or  author 
among  the  most  dissatisfied  has  thus  far  shown  in  any 
satisfactory  way,  —  by  fair  argument  or  by  appeal  to 
history,  —  that  any  of  these  more  important  institu- 
tions, customs,  or  rules  has  been  a  true  cause  of  the 
evils  with  which  he  is  dissatisfied.  Much  less  has  it 
been  made  in  any  good  degree  probable  that  any  of 
the  proposed  changes  would  at  all  tend  to  remove  the 
causes  of  dissatisfaction.  Personally  I  have  not  the 
least  objection  to  one  or  more  denominational  creeds, 
or  to  several  denominational  catechisms.  It  has  never, 
however,  been  shown  by  their  advocates,  that  they 
would  of  themselves,  in  the  least  degree,  tend  to  remove 
the  evils  against  which  they  are  aimed,  or  help  forward 
the  good  results  to  further  which  they  are  intended. 
This  need  of  new  creeds  is  not  to  be  shown  by  clamor 
but  by  argument.  Personally  I  shall  be  glad  to  see 
the  National  Council  made  most  thrifty  and  respecta- 
ble ;  but  that  it  can  be  made  a  panacea  for  the  spirit 
of  isolation  and  self-seeking,  or  even  a  serviceable  in- 
strument for  an  efficient  denominational  centralizing, 
I  have  yet  to  see  the  first  item  of  valid  proof.  Such 
proof  will  not  come  by  partisan  accusation  or  hurrahing. 
In  all  these  ways  of  securing  an  apparent  uniformity 
we  have  some  reason  to  fear  the  results  of  very  mani- 
fest tendencies  to  which  reference  will  soon  be  made. 
He  who  expresses  such  fear  is  not  to  have  his  voice 
drowned  by  renewed  clamor.  Just  at  the  period  when 
the  churches  are  drawing  more  closely  together  for  in- 
formal communion  in  Christ's  great  work  of  propagating 
and  nourishing  Christian  institutions,  we  have  more 
to  fear  from  schism  than  from  any  other  internal  evil. 
And  schism  will  surely  result  from  the  attempt  to  force 
a  uniformity  which  is  feared  and  disliked,  whether  with 


410  PRmCrPLES   of   church   polity.        [lect.  xn. 

or  without  due  reasons,  by  so  many  Congregationalists. 
If  we  will  use  the  spirit  of  unity  in  our  work  as 
churches,  we  shall  have  no  need  to  enforce  uniformity. 
In  general  we  must  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  real 
grounds  of  dissatisfaction  with  Congregationalism  do  not 
lie  in  the  nature  of  its  ancient  institutions^  customs^  and 
rules.,  hut  in  the  manner  of  the  use  which  we  have  made  of 
them.  The  fault  is  not  with  the  Congregationalism  of 
our  fathers  so  much  as  with  the  Congregationalists 
of  the  present  day.  The  changes  needed  are  not  so 
much  in  our  polity  as  in  ourselves. 

Our  general  thought  may  be  made  more  specific  by 
an  illustration  or  two.  We  hear  much  hope  expressed 
by  some  as  to  the  unifying  effect  of  the  National  Coun- 
cil, and,  by  contrast,  much  complaint  of  the  previous 
lack  of  fellowship  amongst  Congregational  churches. 
But  what  course  have  the  complainants,  in  common 
with  the  majority  perhaps,  hitherto  pursued  in  the 
matter  of  the  fellowship  of  churches  ?  Have  we  all  been 
as  brave,  frank,  unselfish,  and  kind  as  our  principles 
require,  or  even  as  were  our  earliest  fathers,  in  fostering 
by  mutual  councils  .the  fellowship  of  the  churches? 
Have  the  pastors  of  the  large  and  influential  churches 
in  the  centres  of  population  been  prodigal  of  their  time 
and  care  in  fellowship  with  surrounding  smaller  and 
weaker  churches?  Shall  we  certainly  accomplish  in 
the  great  council  the  very  thing  we  have  not  taken 
due  pains  to  accomplish  in  many  smaller  councils? 
And,  further,  shall  we,  by  majorities  and  indirection, 
discipline  unsound  pastors  and  churches  so  as  to  con- 
vince them  of  error,  and  lead  them  to  the  faith, ,  better 
than  we  might  have  done  by  that  direct  and  courageous 
rebuke  of  doctrinal  error  which  our  ancient  polity 
makes  incumbent  upon  us  ?     We  do  well  indeed  to  be 


LECT.  xii.]  FOECE   IN   CHUECH  POLITY.  411 

dissatisfied ;  but  we  should  do  better  to  make  sure  that 
our  dissatisfaction  is  well  directed.  And  it  may  turn 
out,  that  not  our  ancient  polity,  but  the  conduct  of  its 
modern  representatives,  viz.,  ourselves,  is  the  very  fittest 
subject  for  dissatisfaction  and  for  improvement.  Chris- 
tian pastors  cannot  in  self-indulgence  neglect  all  the 
minor  and  local  opportunities  for  a  real  fellowship  with 
neighboring  churches,  and  then  satisfy  the  demands  of 
the  principle  of  fellowship  by  an  annual  attendance 
upon  the  State  Association,  or  a  triennial  election  of 
themselves  as  delegates  to  the  National  Council. 

By  all  means,  then,  let  solid  and  permanent  improve- 
ments be  gained  from  a  reasonable  dissatisfaction ;  but 
let  fair  arguments,  and  diligent  attention  to  history,  first 
make  it  clear  that  the  proposed  subjects  of  dissatisfac- 
tion, and  the  consequent  changes,  cover  the  real  grounds 
for  the  feeling.  This  drift  of  unrest  in  discontent  with 
the  past  is  hopeful  for  the  future  of  a  true  church 
polity ;  but  it  is  at  present  quite  too  blind  and  igno- 
rant to  serve  as  a  guide  into  safe  and  helpful  changes. 

Another  manifestation  of  the  pervasive  spirit  of  the 
times  is  seen  in  the  tendency  to  exalt  the  beneficial 
results  of  so-called  force  and  authority.  The  most  dis- 
tressing and  alarming  feature  of  our  present  condition 
as  a  church  order  lies  herein.  The  ancient  and  hon- 
orable custom  of  Congregationalism,  nay,  its  acknowl- 
edged and  principled  obligation,  has  been  to  appeal  to 
reason  and  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  then  to  rest  confi- 
dently in  the  appeal.  It  has  aimed  to  make  its  doc- 
trines, not  rationalistic  in  the  unworthy  sense  of  the 
word,  but  rational  in  the  highest  sense ;  it  has  com- 
mitted its  polity  to  the  fairness  and  good  judgment  of 
the  average  Christian ;  it  has  always  hitherto  been 
ready  to  answer  with  reasons,  and  to  argue  its  case 


412  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.        [lect.  xii. 

with  all  inquirers.  But  the  present  hour  feels  the 
impulses  of  another  kind  of  movement.  This  move- 
ment is  impatient  of  prolonged  and  careful  inquiry ;  it 
scorns  all  lengthy  and  detailed  examination ;  it  cannot 
spare  time  to  consider  in  the  presence  of  opposers  its 
own  proposals  as  they  appear  in  the  two  lights  of  the 
natural  eye  and  the  eye  of  God  in  Scripture.  The 
tendency  is  toward  a  large  confidence  in  mere  success, 
and,  since  force  seems  to  win  success,  toward  a  long- 
ing after  force.  There  is  force  in  majorities  who  can 
limit  the  speeches  of  their  opponents  to  a  few  minutes 
each,  and  then  close  their  own  ears  against  these  very 
speeches,  resting  in  the  assurance  that  the  force  is, 
after  all,  when  it  comes  to  voting,  with  the  majorities. 
In  former  days  Congregationalism  has  not,  indeed,  been 
without  sporadic  exhibitions  of  such  force.  We  have 
already  seen  how  Rev.  Increase  Mather  makes  evident 
that  the  synods  of  1657  and  1662  had  no  intention 
of  listening  to  reason,  but  pushed  on  to  the  exercise 
of  the  authority  which  is  in  the  majority  vote.  But 
all  such  exhibitions  are  contrary  to  the  real  genius 
and  spirit  of  Congregationalism.  To  reach  in  hot 
haste  the  expression  of  authority  in  the  majority  vote, 
and  to  suppose  that  the  outcry  of  opposing  reasons  is 
thereby  hushed,  seems  quite  too  much  the  drift  of  dis- 
position in  our  church  order  at  the  present  time.  We 
find  it  difficult  to  remember  that  even  the  Westminster 
Assembly,  although  it  kept  squinting  at  the  probable 
effect  of  the  force  which  was  in  the  approach  of  the 
Scotch  army,  gave  to  the  minority,  headed  by  Dr. 
Thomas  Goodwin,  rather  the  larger  place  in  the  gen- 
eral debate.  The  tendency  to  drive  things  by  so-called 
force,  to  trust  in  force,  to  scorn  lengthy  argument,  and 
silence  minorities  by  the  majority  vote,  to  distrust  the 


LECT.  xn.]  FORCE  IN  CHURCH  POLITY.  413 

judgment  of  the  people,  fairly  and  deliberately  taken, 
as  to  what  is  reasonable  and  conformable  to  the  gospel, 
is  an  alarming  tendency  in  our  church  order.  It  cer- 
tainly is  quite  the  reverse  of  the  tendency  displayed 
in  that  first  synod,  which  debated  its  one  subject  for 
twenty-four  days,  and  did  this  to  such  good  effect  that 
those  who  came  together  with  hearts  exasperated  finally 
departed  in  peace. 

Of  this  tendency,  however,  we  notice  that  it  also  is 
not  confined  to  our  church  order  or  to  ecclesiastical 
affairs  alone.  The  method  of  iron  and  fire  is  appar- 
ently coming  again  into  great  esteem.  Somewhat  in 
politics  must  be  at  once  accomplished,  and  the  oppos- 
ing and  disintegrating  forces  are  strong.  The  master- 
ful grip  is  needed:  the  iron  hand  of  some  Goetz  von 
Berlichingen  is  required  to  quell  the  mob.  Our  Ameri- 
can politics  is  showing  a  surprising  esteem  for  mere 
success,  and,  therefore,  for  that  crowding  and  pushing- 
forward  to  success  which  comes  of  sheer  force.  The 
same  tendency  is  seen  in  business.  Great  corporations 
and  immense  fortunes  have  force :  principles  and  argu- 
ments are  to  stand  one  side  while  the  strong  work  their 
way  to  the  front.  Large  churches,  immense  denomi- 
nations, have  force.  To  become  large  as  a  church,  im- 
mense as  a  denomination,  force  is  needed.  Argument 
seems  mere  talk.  It  is  understood  to  be  not  in  order 
to  present  reasons:  reasons,  when  presented,  are  not 
presented  in  order  to  convince  the  judgment,  but  for 
the  display  of  force.  In  legislative  halls  and  ecclesiasti- 
cal tribunals  votes  are  counted  before  the  case  is  heard. 
The  end  to  be  reached  is  the  expression  of  the  bare 
unreasoning  and  selfish  will  of  the  majority.  Even 
this  will  cannot  be  allowed  to  come  to  self-conscious- 
ness: it  must  be  forced  by  the  stronger  will.  The 
majority  is  manufactured  by  the  leaders  and  by  force. 


414  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.        [lect.  xn. 

At  the  same  time  we  find,  of  course,  a  loss  of  confi- 
dence in  the  ability  and  honest  intent  of  the  people  at 
large  to  do  intelligently  right.  There  is  no  time  or 
disposition  to  submit  an  argued  case  to  the  majority 
at  large,  in  the  calm  confidence  that  reason  will,  if  it 
can  have  its  free  working,  serve  them  well.  Even  the 
majority  are  not  expected  to  reason  in  order  to  vote 
wisely :  they  are  expected  to  vote  in  order  that  the 
measure  may  have  force. 

From  this  same  tendency  comes  that  hot  and  un- 
thinking partisanship  which  we  used  to  flatter  our- 
selves we  had  almost  as  a  denomination  escaped.  The 
temptation  becomes  strong  to  take  things  "  by  parties 
in  a  lump."  Sides  must  be  formed,  that  force  may  be 
met  with  force.  The  noble  mind  looks  sadly  through 
all  this  tinsel  of  so-called  authority,  and  sees  a  few 
noble  forms  standing  up,  two  centuries  and  a  half 
ago,  to  face  the  authority  of  all  Christendom  with  the 
declaration  of  what  is  reasonable,  and  according  to 
the  Word  of  God.  Of  those  forms  one  is  that  of  Dr. 
Thomas  Goodwin.  From  him  there  come  to  us  words 
as  noble  as  is  the  attitude  of  the  man  who  speaks  them : 
"  This  I  say,  and  I  say  it  with  much  integrity,  I  never 
yet  took  up  religion  by  parties  in  the  lump.  I  have 
found  by  trial  of  things  that  there  is  some  truth  on  all 
sides :  I  have  found  holiness  where  you  would  little 
think  it,  and  so  likewise  truth.  And  I  have  learned 
this  principle,  which  I  hope  I  shall  never  lay  down  till 
I  am  swallowed  up  of  immortality ;  and  that  is,  to 
acknowledge  every  good  thing,  and  hold  communion 
with  it,  in  men,  in  churches,  in  whatsoever  else.  I 
learn  this  from  Paul,  I  learn  this  from  Jesus  Christ 
himself." 

Another  threatening  tendency  which  seems  to  show 


LECT.  XII.]       INDIRECTION   IN   CHURCH   POLITY.  415 

itself  in  our  church  order  is  intimately  connected  with 
the  foregoing.  This  is  the  tendency  to  indirection. 
When  the  quick  pushing  of  measures  to  the  position  of 
apparent  force  seems  indispensable  to  success,  it  soon 
happens  that  the  temptation  to  somewhat  more  or  less 
remotely  resembling  intrigue  is  felt.  The  words  of  his 
courtier  to  Duke  George  of  Saxony,  "Straightforward 
is  the  best  runner,"  are  said  to  have  made  a  great 
impression  upon  pastor  Harms.  With  them  as  his 
motto,  the  strong  and  intense  personality  of  this  honest 
workman  could  move  thousands  of  adherents,  and  make 
itself  felt  to  remote  parts  of  the  earth.  But,  when  this 
straightforward  course  is  forsaken  by  those  who  are  still 
eager  to  reach  speedily  their  goal,  the  manner  of  indi- 
rection is  necessarily  the  next  resort. 

Instances  of  the  same  use  of  indirection  are  by  no 
means  wanting  in  the  earlier  history  of  our  churches. 
We  have  seen  that  Rev.  John  Wise  does  not  hesitate  to 
accuse  certain  ones  of  his  brethren  —  we  hope  without 
malice  in  the  accusation  —  of  planning  "  to  intreague 
others  of  a  lower  set  of  intellectuals."  But  the  ancient 
and  principled  customs  of  our  church  order  are  quite 
fixed  in  another  direction.  "Straightforward  is  the 
best  runner,"  might  as  fitly  have  been  the  motto  of  the 
wisest  and  most  influential  of  the  Congregational 
fathers  as  of  pastor  Harms.  Frank  dealing,  open  and 
equal  debate,  fearless  rebuke,  and  outspoken  challenge 
of  evil,  but  all  these  without  meanness  or  malice,  are 
congenital  with  Congregationalism.  It  does  not  favor 
the  indirection  of  conscience  and  utterance  which  is 
made  necessary  by  required  and  unalterable  creeds.  It 
has  never  found  place  for  the  secrecy  and  winding  of 
the  junto  or  conclave.  In  its  settlement  of  issues, 
brother  is  to  meet  brother  with  frank  and  fair  expression 


416  PRINCIPLES  OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  xn. 

of  views  and  accompanying  reason.  The  open  assem- 
bly, the  court  of  equals,  the  fair  and  full  debate,  ending 
by  the  grace  of  God  in  substantial  community  of  opin- 
ions, are  distinguishing  features  of  our  church  order. 
No  selected  few,  clergy  or  laymen,  are  to  manage  aifairs 
after  the  manner  of  the  politicians,  or  the  ecclesiastics 
of  Rome. 

It  would  be  quite  unfitting  to  the  present  occasion 
and  opportunity,  were  I  to  promulgate  the  charge,  or 
even  the  suspicion,  of  indirection  against  any  individuals 
or  parties  in  the  Congregational  churches  of  to-day. 
It  would,  however,  be  a  case  of  delinquency,  and  irra- 
tional dread  of  seeming  to  be  invidious,  did  I  not  call 
your  attention  to  this  general  evil  tendency.  With  the 
frankness  which  belongs  to  the  spirit  of  our  church 
order  let  us  recognize  the  fact,  —  an  evil  tendency  of 
indirection  is  threatening  our  beloved  polity.  We  may 
see  this  tendency  in  individuals,  in  individual  churches, 
and  in  the  fellowship  of  churches.  There  is  a  tendency 
to  conceal  the  reasons  for  our  ecclesiastical  procedures, 
or  only  to  give  those  which  are  inferior  and  superficial. 
Members  of  the  particular  churches  are  disciplined  by 
indirection.  They  are  tolerated  without  examination, 
until  toleration  becomes  inexpedient,  and  then  retired 
from  the  churches  with  a  polite  bow,  instead  of  suffer- 
ing Christian  excommunication.  Not  that  the  attempt 
to  revive  the  mediaeval  horrors  of  excommunication  by 
bell,  book,  and  candle,  would  improve  our  Congrega- 
tionalism. But  we  are  forgetting  that  only  the  frank 
and  loving  course  which  Christ  commanded  is  binding 
upon  our  churches.  The  particular  visible  church 
should  weep  over  the  brother  who  has  become  an  adul- 
terer, a  liar,  or  a  thief,  and  should  use  all  means,  in  the 
facing  of  all  the  world's  scorn,  to  reclaim  him :  it  has 


LECT.  xn.]       INDIRECTION   IN  CHURCH  POLITY.  417 

no  right,  however,  to  pretend  that  he  is  not  that  very 
sinner  which  he  has  been  convicted  of  being.  In  advis- 
ing churches  concerning  the  settlement  and  dismissal 
of  pastors,  the  same  evil  tendency  to  indirection  far  too 
often  controls  the  advice.  The  real  case,  and  that  only, 
should  be  given  to  the  advisory  council  as  its  ground  of 
advice :  the  council  should  refuse  to  give  advice  without 
a  frank  and  full  statement  of  the  grounds  upon  which 
the  advice  is  to  be  rendered.  If  the  people  are  tired 
of  their  minister,  let  them  say  the  truth ;  let  them  not 
pretend  solicitude  for  his  health.  If  the  minister  needs 
a  larger  salary,  let  him  bring  his  need  before  his  breth- 
ren ;  let  him  not  attribute  the  proposed  change  of  place 
to  the  exigencies  of  his  wife's  relatives.  There  is  far 
too  much  indirection  in  the  supply  of  vacant  churches 
with  candidates  for  their  pastorates.  If  we  must  have 
the  system  of  candidating,  we  must  be  content  to  toler- 
ate enough  evils  at  the  best.  Let  us  not  convert  the 
necessary  evils  into  positive  immoralities  by  suffusing 
them  with  a  strong  tincture  of  nauseous  political  in- 
trigue. In  the  use  of  the  more  formal  means  of  fellow- 
ship, we  are  suffering  in  our  interests  and  in  our  morals 
by  a  large  measure  of  indirection.  Difference  of  opin- 
ions is  not  necessaril}^  harmful :  the  frank  expression  of 
such  difference  is  not  an  unmixed  evil.  Let  it  but 
appear  that  both  parties  are  honest  and  charitable  in 
opinion,  and  even  sharp  open  debate  need  not  provoke 
schism.  But  indirection  is  not  only  in  general  likely  to 
become  unchristian :  it  is  also  certain  to  be  peculiarly 
mischievous  in  the  workings  of  a  polity  such  as  ours. 
The  tendencies  of  our  councils,  conventions,  associa- 
tions, and  consociations,  are  quite  too  much  toward  this 
evil,  roundabout  fashion  of  carrying  measures,  and  influ- 
encing views.      The  committee  —  which  cannot  even 


418  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  xn. 

itself  be  chosen  by  a  genuine  expression  of  the  popular 
will,  but  must  be  appointed  by  another  and  nominating 
committee  —  is  the  result  and  expression  of  this  ten- 
dency to  indirection.  "Wheel  within  wheel,  and  then 
another  wheel  within  that  wheel,  seems  necessary  to 
the  gearing  and  running  of  our  greatest,  our  National 
Council.  There  must  be  committees;  and,  when  they 
are  objected  to,  the  very  manifest  and  satisfactory  an- 
swer is,  How,  otherwise,  shall  things  be  set  and  kept 
running  ?  But  the  very  means  most  indispensable  may 
be  the  means  most  used  by  this  spirit  of  indirection. 

Of  this  tendency,  as  well  as  of  the  foregoing,  we  can 
plead,  in  partial  excuse,  it  is  not  peculiar  to  the  working 
of  our  church  order.  Indirection  is  the  method  of 
American  politics :  indeed,  it  almost  seems  as  though 
it  were  the  indispensable  method  of  all  politics.  The 
man  who  wishes  office  does  not  frankly  say,  I  want  the 
office,  and  for  these  reasons  I  think  I  might  serve 
the  people  well.  The  politician  shrewdly  calculates 
that  the  dark  horse  has  the  best  chance  of  winning  the 
race.  Are  not  the  Christian  churches  at  large  losing 
some  of  the  instinctive  manly  abhorrence  of  all  intrigue, 
and  the  disposition  to  avoid  circumlocution,  which  were 
at  one  time  thought  necessary  to  a  Christian  character? 
The  writing  of  men  whose  pens  are  as  blunt  as  Rus- 
kin's  is  very  distasteful  to  this  modern  spirit  of  conceal- 
ment and  indirection.  The  man  who  speaks  bluntly  is 
liable  to  be  considered  the  most  wily  of  all  men,  in  the 
suspicion  that  his  very  bluntness  is  a  cloak  for  some  kind 
of  covetousness.  How  heartily,  and  with  what  good  rea- 
son, did  Dr.  Arnold  hate  what  he  called  "  Oxford  cau- 
tion,"—  the  indirection  which  is  sometimes  supposed  to 
be  necessary  to  the  bearing  of  a  wise  and  cultured  soul ! 
Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  for  our  polity  to  partake  in 


LECT.  XII.]  ENCOTJEAGmG   TENDENCIES.  419 

the  maxims  and  methods  of  politics  is,  of  all  the  evils 
which  have  befallen  it,  most  to  be  hated  and  dreaded ; 
and  that  the  simple,  direct,  and  brave  but  kindly  ways 
of  the  religion  of  Jesus  are  the  best  and  strongest  ties 
for  binding  together  Christian  churches  ? 

Together  with  these  evil  tendencies  of  our  present 
Congregationalism,  we  may  profitably  consider  certain 
other  tendencies  which  promise  a  decided  increase  of 
our  good. 

There  is  a  warmer  interest  in  the  specialties  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  church  and  in  church  polity  than  for- 
merly obtained.  This  increase  of  interest  is  the  pledge 
of  an  approaching  increase  of  influence.  The  eager 
questioning  of  old  forms,  and  even  the  hasty  devising 
of  supposed  improvements,  will  not  eventuate  in  other 
than  predominantly  good  results.  Especially  are  we 
glad  to  believe  that  there  is,  in  the  actual  operation  of 
our  system  of  church  order,  an  increase  of  effort  to 
reach  the  poor  with  the  gospel,  and  an  increase  of  confi- 
dence in  the  fitness  of  this  order  to  maintain  Christian 
work  amongst  such  poor.  Moreover,  there  is  an  increas- 
ing amount  of  heart}^  informal  co-operation  in  the  great 
work  of  missions :  there  is  more  of  enlightened  effort  to 
propagate  Congregational  churches  in  all  the  foreign 
fields  than  was  the  case  fifty  and  twenty-five  years  ago. 
Finally,  all  the  questions  which  concern  the  right  organ- 
ization and  government  of  the  church  are  more  nearly 
commanding  the  scholarly  research  and  earnest  thought 
which  are  their  due. 

The  tendencies  of  present  Congregationalism  are,  on 
the  whole,  such  as  both  to  warn  and  to  encourage  the  ad- 
herents of  this  form  of  church  polity.  We  are  warned 
to  beware  of  accusing  forms  and  customs  of  those  fail- 
ures which  are  due  rather  to  misuse  of  them ;  to  beware 


420  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.        [lbct.  xii. 

of  ill-advised  changes,  while  at  the  same  time  not  refus- 
ing to  make  any  legitimate  alterations  of  the  justness 
of  which  we  are  well  advised;  to  beware  of  trusting 
to  so-called  force,  while  at  the  same  time  excluding 
our  minds  from  the  force  of  rational  considerations ;  to 
beware  of  refusing  to  minorities  the  fullest  opportunity 
to  make  obvious  the  reasonableness  of  their  views ;  and, 
above  all,  to  beware  of  using  in  the  things  of  Christ's 
kingdom  that  dangerous  and  despicable  indirection 
which  belongs,  indeed,  to  the  chicanery  of  politics,  but 
which  is  unworthy  and  forbidden  for  followers  of  our 
Lord. 

And  what,  we  will  inquire  as  the  last  topic  of  this 
Course  of  Lectures,  —  what  is  the  outlook  for  Congre- 
gationalism ?  To  play  the  part  of  prophet  in  the  pre- 
dictive function  of  the  prophetic  office  should  surely 
be  the  last  role  of  all.  As  to  the  power  of  any  human 
judgment  to  foresee  the  details  of  the  future  of  our 
church  polity,  or  to  provide  beforehand  for  the  exigen- 
cies which  will  surely  arise,  we  have  no  confidence  what- 
ever. This  polity  freely  admits  of  changes  in  its  rules 
and  practices,  if  such  changes  do  not  contravene  its 
fundamental  principles,  and  can  be  made  serviceable  to 
a  real  advancement  of  its  legitimate  ends.  We  may 
not  boast  of  its  present  development,  that  it  is,  like  the 
crowing  of  Chaucer's  chaunteclere,  so  fine  "it  might 
not  ben  amended."  But  we  can  expect  but  little  from 
changes  in  form  which  are  not  prompted  and  filled  by 
a  larger  measure  of  the  spirit  of  Christ.  If  the  demand 
for  uniformity  pushes  on  until  it  detrudes  charity,  and 
evokes  that  old  enemy  of  unity  which  is  the  spirit  of 
schism,  the  compacter  system  of  church  order  which 
results  will  itself  break  into  new  fragments,  and  the 
history  of  church  government  will  repeat  itself  again. 


i,ECT.  XII.]  PROSPECT   OF   A  NEW   CREED.  421 

We  may  possibly  come  to  have  a  new  creed,  which 
will  be,  in  fact,  regarded  by  the  churches  of  the  future 
as  the  Westminster  and  Savoy  Confessions  were  by  the 
churches  of  two  centuries  since.  If  this  result  could 
come  about,  it  would,  perhaps,  be  well.  But  if  the 
effort  for  creed  and  catechism  result  in  the  semblance 
of  uniformity  where  real  unity  of  belief  does  not  exist, 
or  in  the  division  of  churches  upon  the  old  ground  of 
conformity  and  nonconformity  to  a  written  symbol, 
then,  too,  the  means  designed  to  secure  a  greater  unity 
will  prove  to  be  only^the  instrument  of  schism.  The 
student  of  the  history  of  the  Church  cannot  forget  what 
her  teachings  upon  this  point  have  been.  The  influ- 
ence of  a  variety  of  creeds,  if  they  are  developed  in 
the  unity  of  one  essential  faith,  and  of  one  pervading 
atmosphere  of  fraternal  love,  is  not  toward  the  fostering 
of  either  infidelity  or  schism.  It  is  not  minute  men- 
tal analysis,  resulting  in  differing  phases  of  religious 
thought  and  of  expression  to  that  thought,  which  di- 
vides the  church  of  Christ.  The  influence  of  variety 
may  rather  be,  and  indeed  normally  is,  toward  the 
quickening  and  stimulating  of  minds  in  the  contempla- 
tion of  religious  truth.  The  benefit  of  this  process  of 
analysis  can  no  more  be  gained  by  the  individual  or  the 
particular  church,  without  self-participation,  than  food 
can  be  assimilated  by  one  person  which  has  been  eaten 
by  another.  And,  furthermore,  it  is  just  this  complex 
and  vast  process,  in  which  many  thinkers  participate, 
and  to  which  they  contribute  varied  elements,  that  has 
brought  into  being  the  great  creeds  of  Christendom. 
It  is  not  within  the  power  of  each  thinker,  or  of  every 
age  in  the  church,  to  produce  a  great  historic  creed. 
The  nobler  Declarations  of  Faith  were  not  merely 
manufactured  to  order  on  demand.     Myriads  of  indi- 


422  PRINCIPLES   OP  CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  xn. 

vidual  minds  and  hearts  have  been  drawn  upon  to 
furnish  material  and  form  for  that  product  which  is  a 
symbol,  sign,  and  flag,  to  a  great  division  of  the  Church 
of  Jesus  Christ.  The  life-blood  of  the  genuine  creed  is 
expressed  by  the  strong  arm  of  Providence,  and  gener- 
ally under  the  pressure  of  great  persecution  or  other 
weighty  necessities. 

We  may  possibly  have  in  the  near  future  another  era 
of  systematizing  Christian  truth :  this  era  may  possibly 
result  in  the  production  of  one  or  more  great  creeds. 
But,  whenever  the  truly  great  creed  shall  appear,  it  will 
be  no  product  of  merely  human  industry,  a  somewhat 
of  merchantable  sort,  a  coin  with  which  to  buy  and  sell 
the  reputation  for  orthodoxy.  And  meanwhile  we  may 
perhaps  most  safely  content  ourselves  in  the  imitation 
of  our  forefathers,  who,  when  they  found  themselves 
afQicted  with  moral  degeneracy  or  doctrinal  unsound- 
ness, sometimes  renewed  publicly,  not  their  creed,  but 
their  covenant  with  one  another  and  with  God. 

Again :  we  may  possibly  come,  through  the  thrift  of 
the  National  Council,  or  otherwise,  to  have  a  more 
visibly  compact  and  centralized  form  of  church  govern- 
ment :  we  may  possibly  come  to  have  this  without  vio- 
lating the  principles  of  Christ's  exclusive  rulership,  of 
the  equality  and  self-control  of  the  individual,  and  of 
the  autonomy  of  the  local  church.  We  may  possibly 
find  some  set  and  formal  means  for  really  cultivating 
and  honestly  expressing  an  improved  spirit  of  commun- 
ion amongst  the  churches.  If  such  an  end  through  such 
means  can  be  reached,  the  end  may  justify  the  means. 
More  probably  we  shall  find  that  all  efforts  in  this 
direction  will  have  resulted  as  of  old;  for  again  and 
again  have  these  efforts  been  repeated  in  our  church 
order,  again  and  again  has  the  result  been  that  either 


LECT.  XII.]   FUTURE   DOCTRINE  OF  THE   CHURCH.  423 

of  failure  or  of  increased  division  of  feeling  and  life. 
Surely  history  may  have  taught  us  how  easy  it  is  to 
make  the  most  stringent  and  elaborate  forms  of  ecclesi- 
astical arrangement  subserve  the  interests  of  the  domi- 
nant party,  whether  this  be  the  party  of  conservatism 
or  of  progress,  of  the  "  old  lights  "  or  the  new  lights," 
of  so-called  orthodoxy  or  of  so-called  heresy.  We  may 
remind  ourselves  how  New-England  theology  one  day 
turned  the  tables  upon  the  men  who  had  opposed  it, 
when,  by  the  silent  advances  of  thought  and  the  con- 
quests of  reflection  and  argument,  it  had  attained  the 
upper  hand.  The  consociation  in  Connecticut,  which 
had  formerly  been,  in  some  instances,  to  the  men  of  the 
"  new  light,"  an  instrument  of  almost  unbearable  eccle- 
siastical tyranny  and  oppression,  afterward  became 
their  own  instrument  for  vexing  their  opponents.  They 
then  beat  the  swords  which  had  pierced  their  own 
breasts  into  ploughshares  for  turning  up  the  hearts  of 
their  variant  brethren. 

Yet  we  look  into  the  future  confidently  expecting  to 
see  the  true  doctrine  of  the  church,  and  the  realizing  of 
that  true  doctrine  in  the  life  of  all  believers,  accom- 
plished upon  earth.  In  a  noteworthy  article  ^  upon 
Congregationalism,  written  by  Dr.  Leavitt  nearly  fifty 
years  ago,  he  quotes  these  remarkable  words  from  the 
writings  of  .Thomas  Hooker:  "These  two  things  seem 
to  be  great  reserves  of  inquiry  for  this  last  age  of  the 
world.  1.  Wherein  the  spirituall  will  of  Christ's  king- 
dome  consists,  the  manner  how  it  is  revealed  and  dis- 
pensed to  the  souls  of  his  servants  inwardly.  2.  The 
order  and  manner  how  the  government  of  his  kingdome 
is  managed  outwardly  in  the  churches.  Upon  these 
two  hinges  the  tedious  agitations  that  are  stirring  in 
1  See  the  Christian  Spectator  for  1831,  p.  362. 


424  PRINCIPLES   OP   CHUECH  POLITY.       [lect.  xii. 

the  earth  turn,  —  to  set  forwards  the  shakings  of  heaven 
and  earth  which  are  to  be  seen  even  at  this  day." 
These  words  evince  the  premonition  that  the  doctrine 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Church  are 
the  two  chief  inquiries  which  the  Christian  mind  will 
undertake  in  its  future  progress,  and  that  the  practical 
adjustment  and  exemplification  of  these  two  doctrines 
will  be  the  great  end  of  the  future  practical  activities  of 
the  church.  In  connection  with  these  thoughts  let  us 
consider  this  additional  fact.  The  doctrine  of  Sacred 
Scripture  is  also,  and  almost  pre-eminently,  moving  the 
thoughts  of  men.  The  practical  side  of  this  doctrine 
inquires  how  the  Bible  may  be,  in  the  light  of  modern 
science  and  criticism,  vindicated  as  the  sole  objective 
rule  of  faith  and  discipline,  and  how  it  may  be  used 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world  and  the  edifying  of  the 
church.  The  doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  doctrine 
of  the  Bible,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  will  un- 
doubtedly in  coming  time  seek  urgently  for  full  philo- 
sophical consideration,  and  for  practical  exemplification 
by  the  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  the  former  two 
doctrines  are  precisely  those,  which,  in  one  form  of  their 
development,  compose  the  fundamental  and  distinctive 
principles  of  Congregationalism.  The  Congregational 
doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit  affirms  that  He,  with  the 
fulness  of  all  his  gifts,  communicates  directly,  and  with- 
out the  mediation  of  the  individual  clergyman  or  the 
tradition  of  churchly  authority,  with  the  soul  of  every 
believer  and  with  the  congregation  of  believers  in  every 
particular  visible  church.  The  believer  and  the  local 
church  may,  then,  for  enlightenment  both  as  to  doc- 
trine and  as  to  conduct,  turn  immediately  to  the  Spirit 
of  Christ.  The  Congregational  doctrine  of  Sacred 
Scripture  affirms  it  to  be  the  sole  objective  authority 


LECT.  XII.]   FUTUKE  DOCTEINE   OF   THE   CHTJECH.         "  425 

for  the  discipline  as  well  as  faith  of  the  church.  Con- 
gregationalism blends  this  doctrine  of  the  Bible  with 
the  foregoing  doctrine  of  the  Spirit,  by  asserting  its 
complete  confidence  in  the  essential  unity  of  the  Word 
of  God  in  Scripture  and  the  Spirit  of  God  in  the  believ- 
er's soul.  To  find  this  point  of  unity  it  invites  every 
Christian  individual  and  every  Christian  church  to 
make  diligent  and  untiring  search.  Now,  that  these 
forms  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  will  be  substantially  triumphant  with  the  future 
of  the  church,  we  have  no  manner  of  doubt ;  for  they 
embody  the  essential  elements  of  all  the  different  forms 
which  the  doctrines  have  assumed  in  all  ages  and 
branches  of  the  church.  The  future  of  Congregational- 
ism, so  far  as  the  prevalence  of  its  fundamental  formal 
and  material  principles  is  concerned,  is  satisfactorily 
assured.  However  the  laws  and  customs  of  our  so- 
called  polity  may  change,  the  stamps  upon  the  two 
sides  of  our  coin  —  the  image  of  the  divine  word  subjec- 
tive and  the  image  of  the  divine  word  objective,  which 
are  two  copies  of  the  image  of  the  same  king  —  will 
never  be  effaced.  This  coin  will  come  to  currency  in 
all  Christendom :  it  will  displace  all  debased  coins  in 
the  commerce  of  the  Christian  Church.  If  so-called 
Congregational  churches  depart  from  these  principles, 
then  other  churches  will  espouse  them.  The  principles 
will  triumph,  even  though  the  Romanists  are  forced  to 
become,  in  the  espousal  of  the  principles,  more  Congre- 
gational than  Congregationalists  themselves. 

But  what  follows  from  all  these  considerations  re- 
garding the  future  of  the  Congregational  doctrine  of 
the  church?  In  some  regards,  and  from  the  practical 
point  of  view,  the  doctrine  of  the  church  is  the  most 
important  "of  all  the  Christian  doctrines.     The  call  of 


426  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHURCH  POLITY.        [lect.  xn. 

the  Spirit  and  the  teaching  of  the  Word  of  God  organ- 
ize, vivify,  and  instruct  the  Christian  Church.  The 
Spirit  and  the  Bible  are  causes  of  the  church.  But  a 
certain  reverse  form  of  this  statement  is  true.  The 
Bible  and  the  Spirit  are  means  which  the  church  uses 
for  its  self-propagation  and  edifying.  The  Bible  and 
the  Spirit  are  for  the  church :  Scripture  and  spiritual 
gifts  are  to  the  end  that  souls  may  be  edified  and  saved. 
From  the  point  of  view  furnished  by  the  consideration 
of  the  final  cause  of  the  kingdom  of  God  in  its  more 
practical  aspects,  the  docjirine  of  the  church  is  the  most 
important  doctrine  of  all.  That  form  of  the  church 
which  holds,  evinces,  and  propagates  the  true  doctrine 
of  the  church,  will  displace  all  other  forms,  and  will 
conquer  the  world  for  itself  and  for  Christ.  The  true 
doctrine  of  the  church  is  the  true  Congregational  doc- 
trine, and  therefore  the  future  belongs  to  this  doctrine 
and  to  the  form  of  the  church  which  evinces  this  doc- 
trine. The  final  form  of  the  Church  of  Christ  on  earth 
will  be  seen  in  the  triumph  of  the  principles  of  the 
true  church  polity. 

But  let  us  more  closely  examine  what  meaning  can 
save  from  bigotry  such  quasi  High-Church  doctrine  as 
this.  We  are  far,  indeed,  from  wishing  that  the  laws, 
customs,  and  forms  of  a  certain  denomination  or  sect 
known  as  the  Congregational,  shall  transplant  them- 
selves everywhere,  and  organize  a  uniform  fellowship  of 
churches  from  north  to  south  and  east  to  west.  We 
should  almost  as  soon  see  the  Pope  universally  acknowl- 
edged, if  only  we  could  become  convinced  that  any 
organized  uniformity  were  to  be  the  final  form  of  the 
universal  church.  Congregationalists  may  degenerate 
into  mere  sectarians,  and  indiiferent  sectarians  at  that. 
They  may  adopt  either  one  of  the  two  ways,  which,  as 


LECT.  xii.]    FUTURE  OF  AMERICAN   CHURCHES.  427 

John  Owen  saw,  can  never  heal  the  schisms  and  unite 
the  diverse  elements  of  the  Church  of  Christ.  They 
may  undertake  to  organize  another  denomination  with 
no  more  noble  and  vital  principles  at  the  base  of  its 
organization  than  constitute  the  foundation  of  all  the 
sects.  They  may  set  themselves  up  as  universal  um- 
pires of  all  differences  amongst  other  sects.  But 
endless  new  divisions  and  "  digladiations  "  will  be  the 
inevitable  result.  They  may  cease  from  the  strife  of 
sects,  and  settle  down  in  indifference  upon  their  ancient 
reputation  for  mingled  charity  and  zeal.  But  the 
wounds  and  schisms  of  Christendom  will  no  sooner  be 
healed  by  indifference  than  by  sectarian  zeal. 

Indeed,  no  human  prediction  can  assert  what  will  be 
the  extent  of  the  formal  defections  and  variations  of 
the  Congregational  and  of  all  other  systems  of  church 
order  in  our  own  land.  Holy  George  Herbert,  in  his 
poem  on  the  church  militant,  says  of  Christ  and  his 
Spouse,  —  whom  he  describes  as, 

"  Trimme  as  the  light,  sweet  as  the  laden  boughs 
Of  Noah's  shadie  vine,  chaste  as  the  dove, 
Prepar'd  and  fitted  to  receive  thy  love,"  — 

that  the  course  they  took  "was  westward,  that  the 
sunne  might  light 

"  As  vrell  our  understanding  as  our  sight." 

Two  lines  which  for  a  time  prevented  the  printing  of 
this  same  poem  assert,  — 

"  Religion  stands  on  tiptoe  in  our  land, 
Readie  to  pass  to  the  American  strand." 

But  this  fair  prediction  he  follows  with  another :  — 

"  Yet  as  the  Church  shall  thither  westward  flie, 
So  siane  shall  trace  and  dog  her  instantly." 


428  PRINCIPLES   OF   CHUECH  POLITY.        [lect.  xii. 

The  constant  necessity  of  considering  these  two  ele- 
ments of  prediction  together  —  viz.,  the  progress  of  the 
church  to  new  lands  under  the  leading  of  Christ,  and 
the  dogging  her  always  thither  of  sin  —  makes  uncer- 
tain all  the  details  of  our  prophecy.  We  cannot  sup- 
pose that  those  elements  in  the  present  forms  of  church 
polity,  which  are  accretions  and  manifestations  of  im- 
perfection, will  abide  with  the  church  forever.  It 
would  give  us  as  true  Congregationalists  little  real 
encouragement  simply  to  see  our  denomination  out- 
stripping all  others  in  numbers,  Sclat^  and  success. 
The  denominational  name  must  not  become  a  rallying- 
cry  with  us.  It  might  be  real  cause  for  pain  and  shame 
to  witness  our  Year-Book  swelling  its  dimensions  until 
it  constituted  a  small  library  of  volumes,  with  names 
of  many  churches  passing  a  thousand  in  numbers,  and 
of  many  ministers  whose  long  row  of  titles  still  helped 
to  swell  the  several  volumes.  The  question  would, 
nevertheless,  need  to  be  answered,  whether  all  this 
were  according  to  the  true  idea  of  the  church,  and 
for  the  best  interests  of  a  church  which  should  be 
according  to  the  true  idea  of  Christ.  We  should  not 
necessarily  feel  any  surer  of  the  final  triumph  of  Con- 
gregationalism, if  we  saw  the  numbers  of  Congrega- 
tionalists so  called  increased  seventy  times  sevenfold, 
nor  less  sure  if  we  saw  them  diminished  to  one-seventh 
their  present  number. 

But  are  we,  then,  to  hold  that  Congregationalism  is 
a  mere  abstraction,  another  abstract  title,  simply  for 
the  reign  of  charity  and  faith?  By  no  means  simply 
this.  The  true  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  given  in  the  principles  of  church  order  properly 
called  Congregational ;  and  the  embodiment  of  those 
principles   in   actual   churches   which  fully   exemplify 


LECT.  XII.]      MANIFESTED  UNITY  OF  THE  CHUECH.  429 

these  principles  will  alone  be  the  practical  solution  of 
the  problem  of  a  united  visible  and  catholic  church. 
In  other  words,  when  the  prayer  of  Jesus  Christ  is  an- 
swered, and  his  people  are  all  one,  then  there  will  be  no 
predominance  of  some  one  present  form  of  organization, 
and  yet  a  manifestation  in  all  churches  of  a  unity  of 
life. 

And  from  the  point  of  view  furnished  by  this  sacred 
prayer,  let  us  briefly  consider  the  above-mentioned 
thought.  The  unity  of  the  invisible  church  is  always 
complete  and  unbroken :  it  is  not  the  subject  of  human 
ignorance,  passion,  or  wilfulness.  Those  who  so  mis- 
take one  another  as  to  suppose,  that,  because  there  is  no 
obvious  uniformity  between  them,  there  is  no  real  unity, 
are,  nevertheless,  if  they  are  members  of  the  body  of 
Christ,  really  united  in  Christ.  This  unity  which  comes 
by  the  hidden  tie  of  a  common  faith  and  life  in  the 
head  belongs  of  its  very  essence  to  the  whole  of  the 
invisible  church.  But  this  unity  is  not  that  for  which 
Christ  prayed :  he  prayed  for  a  unity  to  come,  and  that 
unity  is  the  inanifested  unity  of  the  entire  church.  The 
manifestation  must  be  that  of  a  real  unity  in  order  to  be 
a  real  manifestation ;  but  the  real  unity  unmanifested 
is  not  the  entire  reality  for  which  Christ  prayed.  A 
manifested  unity  has,  however,  in  the  thought  and  prac- 
tice of  the  church,  been  generally  confused  with  an 
obvious  uniformity  or  oneness  of  form.  Out  of  this 
confusion,  used  as  the  minister  of  bigotry,  of  ecclesias- 
tical pride  and  self-will,  or  of  imperial  selfishness,  have 
come  the  schisms  and  fightings  and  reciprocal  suspi- 
cions or  denunciations  which  have  broken  into  frag- 
ments the  visible  Church  of  Christ.  The  only  mani- 
fested unity  wliich  remains  possible  to  the  church  on 
earth  is  through  the  acceptance  and  embodiment  in  her 


430  PKINCEPLES   OF  CHURCH  POLITY.       [lect.  xii. 

concrete  institutions  of  the  principles  which  we  have 
seen  to  underlie  the  order  of  the  New-Testament 
churches.  This  manifested  unity  is  not  to  be  reached 
by  putting  on  the  wedding-garment  when  the  heart  and 
head  are  not  ready  for  the  wedding-feast.  All  those 
disciples  who  have  simply  tried  to  do  formally  as  the 
early  Christians  did  have  only  instituted  other  sects. 
They  have  usually  instituted  the  most  bigoted  and  un- 
conscionable of  all  the  sects.  In  order  to  reach  a  mani- 
fested unity,  certain  principles  of  the  Christian  doctrine 
of  the  church  must  universally  prevail.  Those  princi- 
ples are  the  principles  which  we  have  been  considering, 
and  which  give  unchanging  conditions  to  the  changing 
forms  in  which  the  church  manifests  its  life. 

The  first  of  these  principles  in  the  order  of  logic  and 
of  time  is  this,  the  visible  church  must  be  constituted 
solely  upon  the  basis  of  expressing  the  real  uiiibn  of  its 
members  with  Jesus  Christ.  The  church  must  strive 
to  know  all  those,  and  to  know  only  those,  as  her  mem- 
bers, who  are  members  of  the  body  of  the  Lord.  She 
may  never  be  wise  enough  to  attain  the  full  realization 
of  the  end  of  her  striving;  but  she  may  never  cease 
striving  toward  this  end.  Having  thus  constituted  her- 
self as  a  visible  church  by  manifesting  the  unity  of  the 
invisible  church,  she  will  have  answered  the  prayer  of 
her  Lord.  But  the  church  is  manifested  under  certain 
limitations  of  space  and  time  which  will  always  control 
her  development  on  earth.  Hence  arises  the  necessity 
for  the  particular  visible  church :  this  is  the  local  and 
temporary  manifestation  of  the  unseen  unity  of  the  in- 
visible catholic  church.  We  have,  then,  in  the  particu- 
lar visible  church  a  new  element  of  a  new  expression  to 
unity.  This  element  must  manifest  its  unity  with  every 
similar  element :  hence  the  communion  and  fellowship 


LECT.  xn.]      MANIFESTED  UNITY  OF  THE  CHURCH.  431 

of  the  particular  visible  churches.  But  the  manifested 
unity  is  represented  in  the  prayer  of  Jesus  as  for  an  end  ; 
that  end  is  the  conversion  of  the  world.  The  visible 
world  is  to  be  turned  into  the  invisible  catholic  church, 
and  this  world-church  is  to  manifest  its  unity  as  one 
visible  church ;  in  what  precise  forms  it  is  not  given 
us  to  define,  but  only  in  such  forms  as  conserve  and 
embody  the  principles  underlying  the  whole  develop- 
ment and  manifestation  of  the  church.  Such  forms  can- 
not include  one  human  Vicegerent  of  Christ,  or  one 
Panpresbyterian  Eldership,  or  one  grand  National  or 
International  Council.  All  these  are  either  expressly 
designed  as  only  temporary  and  imperfect  manifesta- 
tions of  uniformity  instead  of  unity,  or  else  are  at- 
tempts to  cast  down  from  his  supremacy  the  exclusive 
Ruler  of  the  Christian  Church.  In  the  day  of  that  per- 
fectly manifested  unity,  if  it  come  under  the  conditions 
of  time  and  space  belonging  to  the  present  world,  the 
church  will  answer  to  this  following  description.  In  all 
places  of  the  earth  the  gospel  will  have  been  preached, 
and  the  communities  of  earth  will  have  been  turned  to 
Christ.  These  local  communities  of  Christians  will  be 
walking  in  manifested  unity  of  each  member  with  every 
other,  without  distinction  of  name,  without  selfish  rival- 
ries, without  onerous  and  invidious  conditions  to  govern 
their  covenanting  with  one  another  in  church-life. 
Each  community  will  manifest  in  all  ways  permissible 
under  the  conditions  of  our  present  earthly  existence 
its  love  for  every  other  community  throughout  the 
whole  world.  The  unity  of  the  church  will  be  mani- 
fested, and  the  world  will  have  believed  on  Christ. 

The  picture  of  such  a  universal  and  visible  commun- 
ion of  individuals  and  churches  is  a  sweet  and  engaging 
picture.      But  alas !  it  is  so  far  removed  in  the  future 


432  PRINCIPLES   OP  CHURCH  POLITY.        [lbct.  xn. 

that  our  tear-dim  eyes  can  scarcely  make  clear  its  out- 
lines. Over  what  paths  for  nearer  approach  to  a  more 
clear  and  ravishing  point  of  view  the  course  of  our 
churches  may  lie,  we  cannot  tell.  If  they  follow  where 
trod  their  fathers,  and  the  saints  of  the  oldest  Chris- 
tian tunes,  the  way  may  still  be  long  and  tortuous ; 
but  its  end  will  be  safely  reached.  We  can  have  no 
confidence  in  short-hand  methods  of  bringing  in  the 
divine  kingdom.  We  are  not  invited  to  bigoted  con- 
fidence in  the  superiority  of  our  denomination  as  the 
chiefest,  most  numerous,  or  awe-inspiring  of  the  sects. 
We  are  called,  however,  to  maintain  with  zeal  and  love 
and  cheer  a  special  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
and  by  self-denying  labors  to  embody  that  doctrine  in 
concrete  Christian  churches  far  and  wide.  In  this  form 
of  labors  we  may  have  confidence  in  real  success.  A 
little  band  of  brave  souls  came  to  New  England  in  order 
that  they  might  try  the  establishing  of  Christ's  Church 
after  the  mind  and  heart  of  Christ  himself.  They  came 
not  as  refugees,  but  as  would-be  conquerors  of  a  king- 
dom. Despite  the  obstacles  of  hostile  men,  and  horrid 
cold,  and  devastating  disease,  and  gnawing  hunger,  and 
piercing  scorn,  they  came  and  staid  in  cheer  and 
hope.  The  nerve  and  muscle  of  their  descendants 
shows  itself  to  be  getting  flabby,  when  they  confess 
themselves  unable  to  carry  the  much  diminished  load. 
Their  ambition  is  marvellously  lowered,  when,  instead  of 
aiming  to  grasp  and  send  through  the  earth  the  princi- 
ples and  institutions  of  their  ancestors,  they  simply 
crave  permission  to  be  considered  as  one  of  the  leading 
denominations  of  their  native  land,  or  even  surrender 
all  effort  to  carry  those  principles  and  institutions 
beyond  the  few  miles  that  most  nearly  encompass  the 
strand  on  which  those  ancestors  first  disembarked. 


LECT.  xn.]  CLOSING  WORDS   OF   CHEER.  433 

Let  it,  then,  be  the  last  word  and  the  lasting  impres- 
sion of  our  intercourse  in  this  great  theme,  that  on  us 
is  laid  the  confessed  obligation  to  propagate  in  concrete 
manifestation  a  glorious  doctrine  of  the  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ.  In  this  doctrine  there  is  liberty  and  there  is 
unity :  there  is  in  it  both  reason  and  force.  The  obli- 
gation is  laid  on  us  by  the  hand  of  Christ  in  history. 
In  the  discharge  of  the  obligation  there  is  safety :  for 
its  discharging  we  may  treasure  in  our  hearts  an  abun- 
dance of  the  Lord's  cheer.  That  quaint,  vigorous,  and  / 
sometimes  seemingly  offensive,  but  always  honest  and 
really  kindly,  writer,  from  whose  works  I  have  quoted 
so  frequently,  —  Rev.  John  Wise,  pastor  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  ago  "  to  a  church  in  Ipswich,  "  —  shall  close 
this  Course  of  Lectures  with  his  ringing  word  of  com- 
mand. When  the  oars  with  which  the  rowers  move  the 
denominational  ark  themselves  move  heavily,  let  us 
listen  to  this  ancient  voice :  "  Hold  your  hold,  brethren  I 
Et  validis  incumhite  JRemis,  pull  up  well  upon  your  oars, 
you  have  a  rich  cargo,  and  I  hope  we  shall  escape  ship- 
wreck; for  according  to  the  latest  observation,  if  we 
are  not  within  sight,  yet  we  are  not  far  from  harbour ; 
and  though  the  noise  of  great  breakers  which  we  hear, 
imports  hazard,  yet  I  hope  daylight  and  good  piloting 
will  secure  all."  ^ 

1  Churches'  Quarrel  Espoused:  The  Epistle  Dedicatory. 


A    NEW    EDITION. 

Books    and   Reading. 

BY 

NOAH    PORTER,  LL.D.,  President  of  Yale  College. 

With  an  appendix  giving  valuable  directions  for  courses  of 

reading,  prepared  by  James  M.  Hubbard,  late 

of  the   Bostoji    Public   Library. 


1    vol.,    crown   8vo.,  -  -  -  $2.00. 

It  would  be  difficult  to  name  any  American  better  qualified 
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question  of  "  What  to  Read  and  How  to  Read."  His 
acquaintance  with  the  whole  range  of  English  literature  is 
most  thorough  and  exact,  and  his  judgments  are  eminently 
candid  and  mature.  A  safer  guide,  in  short,  in  all  literary 
matters,  it  would   be   impossible  to   find. 


"  The  great  value  of  the  book  lies  not  in  prescribing  courses  of  reading,  but  in  a 
discussion  of  principles,  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  valuable  systematic  reading." 

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"Young  people  who  wish  to  know  what  to  read  and  how  to  read  it,  or  how  to  pursue 
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practical  guide  to  the  whole  domain  of  literature,  and  is  full  of  wise  suggestions  for  the 
improvement  of  the  mind." — Philadelphia  Bulletin. 

"President  Porter  himself  treats  of  all  the  leading  departments  of  literature  of  course 
with  abundant  knowledge,  and  with  what  is  of  equal  importance  to  him,  with  a  very 
definite  and  serious  purpose  to  be  of  service  to  inexperienced  readers.  There  Is  no  better 
or  more  interesting  book  of  its  kind  now  within  their  reach." — Boston  Advertiser. 

'■  President  Noah  Porter's  '  Books  and  Reading '  is  far  the  most  practical  and  satis- 
factory treatise  on  the  subject  that  has  been  published.  It  not  only  answers  the  qnestions 
•What  books  shall  I  read?'  and  'How  shall  I  read  them?'  but  it  supplies  a  large  and 
well-arranged  catalogue  under  appropriate  heads,  sufficient  for  a  large  family  or  a  small 
public  library."— 5«7j/<w  Zion^s  Herald. 


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Natural  Science  and  Religion* 

By    Prof.    ASA    GRAY,    LL.D. 


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These  striking  and  earnest  lectures,  delivered  by  one  of  the  leading 
men  of  science  of  the  country  before  one  of  its  chief  schools  of  theology,  are 
contributions  of  a  most  noteworthy  sort  to  the  literature  of  their  subject. 
The  position  of  their  author  is  a  guarantee  that  they  are  not  devoted  to 
any  perfunctory  attempt  to  reconcile  opposing  doctrines.  They  are  a 
remarkably  strong  and  independent  presentation  of  what  a  distinguished 
scientific  man,  an  acceptor  of  the  theory  of  evolution  and  one  of  the  most 
famous  of  its  students,  has  to  say  upon  those  recent  discoveries — par- 
ticularly in  biology — which  seem  to  affect  religious  belief.  Both  from  its 
point  of  view  and  from  its  matter,  the  book  fills  an  entirely  new  place  in 
a  most  vitally  important  discussion. 


CRITECAIi    NOTICKS. 

"  There  is  more  religion,  more  science,  and  more  common  sense  in 
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difficult  subject." — Chicago   Times. 

"  The  spirit  of  the  lectures  is  thoroughly  scientific,  and  also  Christian ; 
and  we  heartily  wish  that  every  skeptical  scientist  would  carefully  read 
and  inwardly  digest  them. " — New  York  World. 

"No  one  can  rise  from  the  perusal  of  these  lectures  without  feeling 
that  he  has  gained  a  firmer  footing  than  he  had  before.  The  style  is  deli- 
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San  Francisco  Eve.  Bulletin. 

"The  lectures  are  very  pleasantly  written  in  a  simple  and  attractive 
style,  though  with  careful  accuracy  of  thought  and  statement,  and  it  will  be 
to  the  advantage,  both  of  religion  and  of  science,  that  they  be  widely  read." 
— Philadelphia    Times. 

"  The  best  brief  exposition  we  have  seen  of  the  relation  between  scientific 
and  religious  thought.  We  heartily  commend  it  to  all  wlio  wish  to  be  stirred 
up  to  an  intelligent  consideration  of  this  most  important  subject." — IV.  V. 
Independe7it. 

"  Such  an  exposition  as  this  of  the  real  attitude  and  teaching  of  modern 
science,  so  clear  an  explanation  of  the  actual  belief  of  scientific  investi- 
gators, and  so  fine  a  discrimination  between  the  necessary  inferences  to  be 
drawn  from  the  accepted  doctrines  of  modern  science  and  the  inferences 
actually  drawn  by  particular  philosophers,  cannot  fail  to  be  an  uncommonly 
acceptable  work.  Aside  from  all  this  the  little  book  will  serve  an  excellent 
purpose  as  the  best  and  clearest  explanation  of  what  modern  science  is 
in  its  essence,  and  of  what  its  conclusions  are,  that  is  anywhere  to  be  found 
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Old  Faiths  in  New  Light 


NEWMAN   SMYTH, 

Author   of   "  The   Religious   Feeling. 


One  Volume,  12mo,  cloth,        -        -        -        $1.B0. 


This  work  aims  to  meet  a  growing  need  by  gathering  materials  of 
faith  which  have  been  quarried  by  many  specialists  in  their  own  depart- 
ments of  Biblical  study  and  scientific  research,  and  by  endeavoring  to 
put  these  results  of  recent  scholarship  together  according  to  one  leading 
idea  in  a  modern  construction  of  old  faith.  Mr.  Smyth's  book  is  remark- 
able no  less  for  its  learning  and  wide  acquaintance  with  prevailing  modes 
of  thought,  than  for  its  fairness  and  judicial  spirit. 


CRITICAL.  NOTICES. 


"The  author  is  logical  and  therefore  clear.  He  also  is  master  of  a  singularly 
attractive  literary  style.  Few  writers,  whose  books  come  under  our  eye,  succeed  in 
treating  metaphysical  and  philosophical  themes  in  a  manner  at  once  so  forcible  and  so 
interesting.  We  speak  strongly  about  this  book,  because  we  think  it  exceptionally 
valuable.  It  is  just  such  a  book  as  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  all  intelligent  men  and 
women  who  have  received  an  education  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  read  intelligently 
about  such  subjects  as  are  discussed  herein,  and  the  number  of  such  persons  is  very 
much  larger  than  some  people  think." — Congregatiottalist. 

"  We  have  before  had  occasion  to  notice  the  force  and  elegance  of  this  writer,  and 
his  new  book  shows  scholarship  even  more  advanced.  *  *  *  When  we  say,  with 
some  knowledge  of  how  much  is  undertaken  by  the  saying,  that  there  is  probably  no  book 
of  moderate  compass  which  combines  m  greater  degree  clearness  of  style  with  profundity 
of  subject  and  of  reasoning,  we  fulfil  simple  duty  to  an  author  whose  success  is  all  the 
more  marked  and  gratifying  from  the  multitude  of  kindred  attempts  with  which  we  have 
been  flooded  from  all  sorts  of  pens." — Presl/yterian. 

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science  are  not  antagonists  but  allies,  and  that  both  lead  up  toward  the  one  God.  We 
fancy  that  a  good  many  readers  of  this  volume  will  entertain  toward  the  author  a  feeling 
of  sincere  personal  gratitude. " — Boston  Journal. 

"  On  the  whole,  we  do  not  know  of  a  book  which  may  better  be  commended  to 
thoughtful  persons  whose  minds  have  been  unsettled  by  objections  of  modern  thought. 
It  will  be  found  a  wholesome  work  for  every  minister  in  the  land  to  read." 

— Examiner  and  Chronicle. 

"It  is  a  longtime  since  we  have  met  with  an  abler  or  fresher  theological  treatise 
than  Old  Faiths  in  New  Light,  by  Newman  Smyth,  an  author  who  in  his  work  on 
"The  Religious  Feeling"  has  already  shown  ability  as  an  expounder  of  Christian 
doctrine. "  — Independetit, 


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The 


Conflict  of  Christianity 

WITH    HEATHENISM. 

By  DR.    GERHARD     UHLHORN. 

TRANS  LA  TED     B  Y 
PROF.  EGBERT    C.  SMYTH    and    REV.  C.  J.  H.  ROPES. 


One   Volume,    Crown    8vo,   $2.SO. 

This  volume  describes  with  extraordinary  vividness  and  spirit  the 
religious  and  moral  condition  of  the  Pagan  world,  the  rise  and  spread 
of  Christianity,  its  conflict  with  heathenism,  and  its  final  victory.  There 
is  no  work  that  portrays  the  heroic  age  of  the  ancient  church  with  equal 
spirit,  elegance,  and  incisive  power.  The  author  has  made  thorough  and 
independent  study  both  of  the  early  Christian  literature  and  also  of  the 
contemporary  records  of  classic  heathenism. 


CRITICAIL     NOTICES. 

"  It  is  easy  to  see  why  this  volume  is  so  highly  esteemed.  It  is 
systematic,  thorough,  and  concise.  But  its  power  is  in  the  wide  mental 
vision  and  well-balanced  imagination  of  the  author,  which  enable  him  to 
reconstruct  the  scenes  of  ancient  history.  An  exceptional  clearness  and 
force  mark  his  style." — Boston  Advertiser. 

"  One  might  read  many  books  without  obtaining  more  than  a  fraction 
of  the  profitable  information  here  conveyed  ;  and  he  might  search  a  long 
time  before  finding  one  which  would  so  thoroughly  fix  liis  attention  and 
command  his  interest." — P/iii.   S.  S.    Times. 

"  Dr.  Uhlhorn  has  described  the  great  conflict  with  the  power  of  a 
master.  His  style  is  strong  and  attractive,  his  descriptions  vivid  and 
graphic,  his  illustrations  highly  colored,  and  his  presentation  of  the  subject 
earnest  and  effective." — Providence  yournal. 

"  The  work  is  marked  for  its  broad  humanitarian  views,  its  learning, 
and  the  wide  discretion  in  selecting  from  the  great  field  the  points  of 
deepest  interest." — Chicago  Inter-Ocean. 

"  This  is  one  of  those  clear,  strong,  thorough-going  books  which  are 
a  scholar's  delight."— //art/ord  Religious  Herald. 


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The  Religions  of  China. 

CONFUCIANISM  AND  TAOISM    DESCRIBED  AND  COM- 
PARED WITH  CHRISTIANITY. 

By     JAMES      LEGGE, 

Professor  of  the  Chinese  Language  and  Literature  in  the  University  of  Oxford. 


One    volume,   12mo,        -         -        $1.50. 

Professor  Legge's  work  is  by  far  the  most  simple  and  easily 
comprehended  exposition  of  Chinese  religions  that  exists,  and 
is  remarkable  for  its  freedom  from  a  polemic  bias,  and  for  the 
easy,  confident  touch  of  a  man  whose  mind  is  saturated  with 
his  subject  and  at  home  in  every  branch  of  it. 


"The  entire  volume  deserves  a  wide  and  attentive  reading."— C/5z<ra^(7  Tribune. 

"  Prof.  Leg<;e  is,  perhaps,  the  highest  authority  on  all  matters  connected  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  Chinese  literature  and  philosophy." — Richmond  Central  Presby- 
terian. 

"Prof.  Legge's  work  is  a  remarkably  instructive  and  critical  contribution  to  our 
knowledge  of  the  Chinese." — St.  Louis  Central  Christian  Advocate. 

"  As  the  work  of  perhaps  the  first  of  scholars  in  all  that  pertains  to  China,  we  heartily 
commend  this  book." — Buffalo  Courier. 

"For  the  scholar  and  the  minister  who  desire  information  about  the  religions  of  the 
largest  nation  on  earth,  and  who  are  likely  to  play  an  important  part  hereafter  in  the 
history  of  the  world,  it  is  an  important  publication." — Richmond  Southern  Churchman. 

"  In  this  volume  Prof.  Legge  presents  the  results  of  careful  study,  with  a  clearness  of 
style  and  method  which  entitles  him  to  the  gratitude  of  readers  who  are  interested  in  the 
study  of  comparative  religions." — Boston  Daily  "jfournal. 

"Nowhere  else  is  so  clear  a  detail  of  the  distinctive  features  and  characteristics  of 
the  Chinese  religions  given,  and  nowhere  else  are  the  contrasts  and  similarities  between 
them  and  the  Christian  religion  brought  within  a  more  compact  compass." — 

Albany  fournal, 

"  Prof.  Legge's  philological  discussions  are  extremely  interesting,  and  his  reasoning 
close  and  fascinating.  Incidentally  he  gives  us  an  insight  into  the  social  and  family  re- 
lations of  the  Chinese,  which  are  involved  in  and  governed  by  the  duties  and  obligations 
imposed  by  religion," — Waierbury  American, 


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The  Theory  of  Preaching, 

OR 

LECTURES     ON     HOMILETICS. 

By    Professor    AUSTIN    PHELPS,    D.D. 


One  volume,  8vo,         ___-._        $2.50 


This  work,  now  offered  to  the  public,  is  the  growth  of 
more  than  thirty  years'  practical  experience  in  teaching. 
While  primarily  designed  for  professional  readers,  it  will  be 
found  to  contain  much  that  will  be  of  interest  to  thoughtful 
laymen.  The  writings  of  a  master  of  style  of  broad  and 
catholic  mind  are  always  fascinating;  in  the  present  case  the 
wealth  of  appropriate  and  pointed  illustration  renders  this 
doubly  the  case. 

CRITICAL    NOTICES. 

"  In  the  range  of  Protestant  homiletical  literature,  we  venture  to  afiRrm  that  its  equal 
cannot  be  found  for  a  conscientious,  scholarly,  and  exhaustive  treatment  of  the  theory 
and  practice  of  preaching.  *  *  *  To  the  treatment  of  his  subject  Dr.  Phelps  brings 
such  qualifications  as  very  few  men  now  living  possess.  His  is  one  of  those  delicate  and 
sensitive  natures  which  are  instinctively  critical,  and  yet  full  of  what  Matthew  Arnold 
happily  calls  sweet  reasonableness.  *  *  *  To  this  characteristic  graciousness  of 
nature  Dr.  Phelps  adds  a  style  which  is  preeminently  adapted  to  his  special  work.  It  is 
nervous,  epigrammatic,  and  racy." — The  Kxaminer  and  Chronicle. 

"  It  is  a  wise,  spirited,  practical  and  devout  treatise  upon  a  topic  of  the  utmost  con- 
sequence to  pastors  and  people  alike,  and  to  the  salvation  of  mankind.  It  is  elaborate 
but  not  redundant,  rich  in  the  fruits  of  experience,  yet  thoroughly  timely  and  current, 
and  it  easily  takes  the  very  first  rank  among  volumes  of  its  class. — The  Congrega- 
tionalist, 

"The  layman  will  find  it  delightful  reading,  and  ministers  of  all  denominations  and 
of  all  degrees  of  experience  will  rejoice  in  it  as  a  veritable  mine  of  wisdom." — Neiu  York 
Christian  Advocate, 

"The  volume  is  to  be  commended  to  young  men  as  a  superb  example  of  the  art  in 
which  it  aims  to  instruct  them." — The  Independent. 

"The  reading  of  it  is  a  mental  tonic.  The  preacher  cannot  but  feel  often  his  heart 
burning  within  him  under  its  influence.  We  could  wish  it  might  be  in  the  hands  of  every 
theological  student  and  of  every  pastor."  —  The  Watchman. 

"Thirty-one  years  of  experience  as  a  professor  of  homiletics  in  a  leading  American 
Theological  Seminary  by  a  man  of  genius,  learning  and  power,  are  condensed  into  this 
valuable  volume."  —  Christian  Intelligencer. 

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simply  a  heavy,  monotonous  discussion,  chiefly  adapted  to  tne  class-room.  It  is  a 
delightful  volume  for  general  reading." — Boston  Zion^s  Herald. 


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JLXTTHOItlZEn    AMEBIC  AN    EDITION, 


ESSAYS    ON   ECCLESIASTICAL    SUBJECTS. 
By  A.   P.   STANLEY,   D.D., 

Late  Dean  of  IVestminster. 

One  vol.,  croTxrn  8vo,  Library  Edition,  $2.50 ;  Students'  Edition,  75o. 

The  work  includes  chapters  upon  Baptism ,  the  Eucharist,  the  Euchar- 
ist in  the  Early  Church,  Eucharistic  Sacrifice,  the  Real  Presence,  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ,  Absolution,  Ecclesiastical  Vestments,  Basilicas, 
the  Pope,  the  Litany,  and  the  Belief  of  the  Early  Christians. 


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are  treated  in  a  very  liberal  and  very  attractive  style.  Dean  Stanley  is  a 
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History  of  the  Jewish  Church  and  of  the  Eastern  Church  are  as  inter- 
esting and  entertaining  as  a  novel.  He  always  seizes  on  the  most  salient 
points,  and  gives  them  an  artistic  finish.  He  avoids  all  pedantry  of  learn- 
ing, and  all  tedious  details. " — Dr.  Schaff  in  The  Critic. 


DEAN    STANLEY'S   OTHER   WORKS. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWISH 

Church.     With  maps  and  plans. 

Vol.  I.  FROM  ABRAHAM  TO 
Samuel.     Crown  8vo,  $2.50. 

Vol.  II.  FROM    SAMUEL  TO  THE 

Captivity.     Crown  8vo,  $2.50. 

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THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH 

of  Scotland.     8vo,  $1.50. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  EAST- 
ern  Church.  With  an  Introduction 
on  the  study  of  Ecclesiastical  History. 

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WESTMINSTER  EDITION  OF 
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Handsomely  printed  on  superfine  paper, 
and  tastefully  bound.  Three  vols.,  8vo. 
(Sold  in  sets  only.)     f  9.00. 

THE  LIFE  AND  CORRESPOND- 
ence  of  Thomas  Arnold,  D.D.,  late 
Head  Master  of  Rugby  School.  2  vols, 
in  one.     Crown  8vo,  $2.50. 


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'Complete    In    Twenty-four    Volumes    8vo. 


CRITICAL,  DOCTRINAL,  AND    HOMILETiCAL. 
tR^NSILiA-TED,     ElSTLi^JRGED,   A.N1D     EDITED 

BY 

PHILIP    SCHAFF,    D.D., 

PROFESSOR      IN     THE     UNION    THEOLOGICAL    SEMINARY. 

This  is  the  most  comprehensive  and  exhaustive  Commentary  on  the  whole 
Bible  ever  published  in  this  or  any  other  country. 

The  German  work,  on  which  the  English  edition  is  based,  is  the  product 
of  about  twenty  distinguished  Biblical  scholars,  of  Germany,  Holland,  and 
Switzerland,  and  enjoys  a  high  reputation  and  popularity  wherever  German 
theology  is  studied. 

The  American  edition  is  not  a  mere  translation  (although  embracing  the 
whole  of  the  German),  but,  to  a  large  extent,  an  original  work  ;  about  one- 
third  of  the  matter  being  added,  and  the  whole  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the 
English  and  American  student.  Its  popularity  and  sale  has  been  lately 
increasing  in  Great  Britain. 

The  press  has  been  almost  unanimous  in  its  commendation  of  Lange's 
Commentary.  It  is  generally  regarded  as  being,  on  the  whole,  the  most 
useful  Commentary,  especially  for  ministers  and  theological  students — in 
which  they  are  more  likely  to  find  what  they  desire  than  in  any  other.  It  is 
a  complete  treasury  of  Biblical  knowledge,  brought  down  to  the  latest  date. 
It  gives  the  results  of  careful,  scholarly  research  ;  yet  in  a  form  sufficiently 
popular  for  the  use  of  intelligent  laymen.  The  Homiletical  department 
contains  the  best  thoughts  of  the  great  divines  and  pulpit  orators  of  all  ages, 
on  the  texts  explained,  and  supplies  rich  suggestions  for  sermons  and  Bible 
lectures. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  chief  merits  of  this  Commentary  : 

1.  //  is  orthodox  and  sound,  without  being  sectarian  or  denominationaL 
It  fairly  represents  the  exegetical  and  doctrinal  consensus  oi  evangelical 
divines  of  the  present  age,  and  yet  ignores  none  of  the  just  claims  of  liberal 
scientific  criticism. 

2.  It  is  comprehensive  and  complete — giving  in  beautiful  order  the 
authorized  English  version  with  emendations,  a  digest  of  the  Critical  Appa- 
ratus, Exegetical  Explanations,  Doctrinal  and  Ethical  Inferences  and 
Reflections,  and  Homiletical  and  Practical  Hints  and  Applications. 

3.  //  is  the  product  of  fifty  A?nerican  (besides  tuuenty  European)  Scholars, 
.from  the  leading  denominations  and  Theological  institutions  of  the  country. 

Professors  in  the  Theological  Seminaries  of  New  York,  Princeton,  Andover, 
-"Jew  Haven,  Hartford,  Cambridge,  Rochester,  Philadelphia,  Cincinnati, 
Alleghany,  Chicago,  Madison,  and  other  places,  representing  the  Presbyte- 
rian, Episcopal,  Congregational,  Baptist,  Methodist,  Lutheran,  and  Reformed 
Churches,  have  contributed  to  this  Commentary,  and  enriched  it  with  the 
results  of  their  special  studies.  It  may,  therefore,  claim  a  national  charactei 
more  than  any  other  work  of  the  kind  ever  published  in  this  oountry. 

8vo,  per  vol.,  in  sheep,  $6.50 ;  in  half  calf,  $7.50 ;  cloth,  $5.00. 

•^*  The  above  hook  for  sale  by  all  booksellers,  or  inill  be  sent,  post  or  express 
fjuirges  paid,  upon  receipt  of  the  price  by  the  publishers, 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS, 

743  AND  745  Broadway,  New  York 


DATE  DUE 


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1 



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